Battery-powered locomotives, coming to real railroads

All Aboard!, says Sheldon.

Battery-powered locomotives, coming to real railroads /img/union-pacific-battery-train.jpg

Less than three months ago I commented the potential of battery-powered trains. Now, there has just been an important development in that direction: “Union Pacific Will Buy 20 Battery-Electric Locomotives”.

This is important because Union Pacific is a Class I railroad, that is a member of the “club” of largest rail carriers in the United States!

That purchase is the “largest investment (100M USD) into the technology ever made by a Class I railroad”. The first of those locomotives should arrive less than two years from now, in late 2023, and will be first tested California and Nebraska, to see how they behave in both cold warm climates.

Battery-powered locomotives, coming to real railroads /img/all-aboard.jpg

All Aboaaaaaard, says Sheldon, and so do I. Looking forward to similar locomotives on every railroad. See here why this is good, and some obstacles along the road.