Innovating with Purpose
Wabtec is committed to developing responsible and sustainable products that reduce our impact on the planet.
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For over 150 years, Wabtec has looked for ways to make a positive impact on people and the planet.
At the heart of this mission is a desire to accelerate our efforts across all areas of ESG to better serve our employees, customers, communities, and shareholders in more sustainable ways. Ensuring we’re constantly pushing ourselves to create even more sustainable products and services, across our entire portfolio, is a huge priority.
2021 Highlights
In 2021, our fleet of 23,000+ locomotives globally traveled over 1.8 billion miles and helped our end customers eliminate over 138 million metric tons of GHG emissions by choosing rail over truck transportation. That’s the equivalent of removing over 30 million cars from the roads or planting 160 million acres of trees.
Celebrated the 1000th Wabtec remanufactured locomotive at plants in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Brazil, breathing new life into old trains.
Partnered with key customers such as Union Pacific and BNSF on biofuels testing and piloting our FLXdrive™ battery-electric locomotive.
Decarbonizing Global Transport
A Better Future: Our Shift to Green
Safer. Smarter. Cleaner. Greener.
FLXdrive™ Battery Electric Locomotive
Our next-generation equipment and digital solutions to increase fuel efficiency and decrease emissions are the centerpiece of our efforts. Alternative clean energy technologies are crucial in the fight to reduce GHG emissions. Wabtec is helping customers reduce their carbon footprints through the development of low-emitting locomotives like our Tier 4 and FLXdrive™ battery-electric locomotives.
Throughout the pilot in 2021, FLXdrive™ successfully reduced overall fuel consumption by more than 11 percent across the train consist. This is equivalent to more than 6,200 gallons of fuel saved and approximately 65 tons of CO2 emissions reduced.
Sustainable Transit Solutions
Our new brake control products, Metroflexx and Regioflexx, help reduce weight on trains to improve performance and lower emissions. These products are designed to be up to 95% recyclable after the end of their useful life.
Green Air refrigerant, which provides a much lower global warming potential compared to traditional refrigerants, is another sustainable product receiving strong interest from the transit market.
Modernizations
In August 2021, we completed our 1,000th remanufactured locomotive at plants in Fort Worth, Texas, Erie, Pennsylvania, and Contagem, Brazil since the modernization program began in 2015. The milestone unit went to Norfolk Southern, who has received more than 500 remanufactured locomotives from Wabtec. These 1990s-vintage 4,000hp locomotives are rebuilt into 4,400hp A.C. traction units.
When the units have been remanufactured, A.C. traction, improvements in truck design, and new standardized control systems allow Norfolk Southern to carry out trips using two rebuilt units when it would have required three older models to achieve the same task.
While U.S. modernizations are a vital aspect of our decarbonization efforts, sustainability efforts demand global action. In June of 2022, we recently announced an agreement to modernize locomotives for Fortescue Metals Group, which is our very first delivery of Wabtec’s modernized locomotives for an Australian customer.
Leading in Alternative Fuels
We are also helping our customers explore low-carbon fuels for their existing assets. Alternative clean energy technologies and the use of alternative fuels like biodiesel, renewable diesel, and hydrogen are critical levers to reduce environmental impact.
We have partnered with Union Pacific Railroad to use a higher biodiesel blend in Wabtec locomotives used by the railroad. This new collaboration will play a large role in Union Pacific’s aims to increase the percentage of low-carbon fuels consumed to 10% of its total diesel consumption by 2025 and 20% by 2030.
We also partnered with BNSF Railway to quantify the impact of alternative fuels on emissions, durability, and performance in Wabtec locomotives. The project started in 2022 and is intended to demonstrate the performance of biodiesel (B20) and renewable diesel (R80) in revenue service on Wabtec Tier 3 and Tier 4 Evolution Series locomotives in California between Barstow and Los Angeles.
Digital Intelligence
At Wabtec, we have a suite of digital technologies and solutions that are helping us make great strides toward optimizing the rail network and train performance. Our Trip Optimizer™ smart cruise control system, which can be added to existing locomotives, helps improve fuel usage and reduces emissions. It is currently installed on 11,000 locomotives globally, saving more than 350 million gallons of diesel annually. The current rate of fuel savings translates to a reduction in CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions by more than 3.5 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of taking more than 750,000 cars off the road for a year.
In 2021, we enhanced and expanded the reach of Trip Optimizer™ and other technologies designed to create a safer and more efficient freight rail network. Our LOCOTROL® Distributed Power System helps increase throughput and reduce operating costs on longer and heavier trains. Positive Train Control (PTC), now on every main line locomotive in the U.S., is a foundational technology for delivering a safer, more utilized, and automated rail network.