Although the cost of freight rail in the U.S. is about half that of Europe or Japan, rising fuel prices and ever-expanding volume have put a strain on domestic freight rail that isn’t easing up. In fact, the total volume of goods carried by freight rail will double over the next 25 years and will need to expand by nearly 90 percent to meet projections for 2035. But railroads can’t simply build more rail lines. And finding another way to transport all the cargo isn’t an option as the sheer volume of goods that U.S. freight carries would be impossible to re-route over already-congested U.S. highways.Although the cost of freight rail in the U.S. is about half that of Europe or Japan, rising fuel prices and ever-expanding volume have put a strain on domestic freight rail that isn’t easing up. In fact, the total volume of goods carried by freight rail will double over the next 25 years and will need to expand by nearly 90 percent to meet projections for 2035. But railroads can’t simply build more rail lines. And finding another way to transport all the cargo isn’t an option as the sheer volume of goods that U.S. freight carries would be impossible to re-route over already-congested U.S. highways.
 Less fill-ups: Part of GE’s $4 billion-a-year software and solutions services business, Trip Optimizer creates train-specific speeds that minimize braking by learning a train’s characteristics. The system calculates the most efficient way of running based on factors like train length, weight, track conditions, and weather. |
It’s why the industry is searching for alternative solutions — such as better technology that can substantially increase both the speed and fuel efficiency of freight trains. When deployed on a large scale, these technologies can have larger implications for the freight industry, not to mention the economy overall — considering that more than 40 million container loads of inbound cargo came in from Asia to North America last year, all needing to be transported to stores and warehouses.
One technology currently in the field is GE Transportation’s Trip Optimizer software that serves as a sort of cruise control for freight trains. Part of GE’s ecomagination line of more energy efficient technologies, the program calculates the optimal speed for fuel consumption based on the specific train type and route, and then automatically controls the throttle to maintain that speed during the entire trip, thereby saving millions of gallons of fuel. Today it marked a new milestone in the field, having saved 3.3 million gallons of fuel on the first five million miles of track traveled.
The testers include four North American Class 1 railroads. They’ve all outfitted their trains with Trip Optimizer, and as a result saw their fuel use drop approximately 7 percent — a reduction of more than 37,000 tons of CO2, the equivalent of taking over 7,000 passenger cars off of the road or planting more than 10,000 acres of forest — which is just a small window into the cumulative fuel savings if the entire U.S. fleet of freight trains was using it.
Trip Optimizer isn’t GE’s first foray into advancing freight technology: There’s also LOCOTROL, which increases hauling capacity and reduces operating costs, and RailEdge, which enables railroads to create better train schedules, moving more freight faster on their existing networks.
* Read today’s announcement
* Read more Transportation stories on GE Reports
* Read More About Canada’s Use of Trip Advisor
* Read More About RailEdge
