Railways are one of history's most enduring modes of
transportation-and still vital to our economy today.
Take, for example, the Southern Ontario Railway.
Hauling more than forty-four-thousand carloads
of freight throughout the Hamilton and Brantford region
every year, it's just one of Canada's many shortline
and regional railroads.
And as any rail operator can tell you, time is money.
To make sure they're always ready to roll-especially
in cold weather conditions when engines can freeze
up-operators will keep their locomotives idling,
even when they're not in use.
All that idling adds up-an average of
one-thousand-three-hundred hours per locomotive each year.
Not only does this waste fuel, but more idling means more
greenhouse gases and other contaminants spewed
into the air.
During colder weathers, and that is a temperature of
5 degrees Celsius or less, the locomotive would have to run
24 hours a day seven days a week in order
that the systems would not freeze.
Since the installation of the APUs,
we've seen many benefits.
The locomotives are starting on time;
we're operating on time.
That, of course, relates directly to customer
satisfaction, locomotive reliability,
and has extended the engine life.
It's a better environment for everybody
because those gases aren't going into the atmosphere.
Looking to improve its bottom line as well
as the environment, Southern Ontario Railway,
with funding from Transport Canada's ecoFreight Program ,
installed auxiliary power units-APUs-onto
its locomotives.
Acting as a secondary power source,
the APU ensures the locomotive's engine
will start, even in the coldest temperatures.
An APU is an auxiliary power unit that is part of an idling
reduction technology that allows the locomotive
to shut down automatically, after 30 minutes.
The APU consists of the diesel engine and the generator
that powers up three immersion heaters,
one oil heater and a battery charger.
These are only running on temperature demand.
This will result in a 90% fuel savings when the locomotive
is in idle position.
To demonstrate their potential,
a total of 23 APUs were installed across the four
Canadian divisions of RailAmerica-a company that
owns 40 regional railroads throughout North America.
Four were tested on the Cape Breton
and Central Nova Scotia Railway...
Two on the Ottawa Valley Railway...
Eleven on the Goderich-Exeter Railway...
And six on the Southern Ontario Railway.
After six months of testing, idle fuel consumption had
dropped by 89 percent - an average savings
of 3, 900 litres per locomotive per month.
The financial pay back is expected to be substantial.
If one APU costs approximately $36,000,
and if diesel prices are about $1.00 per litre,
each APU will pay for itself in 7 to 8 months.
And with such a quick return on investment,
it's no surprise that RailAmerica is looking
to use the APU technology on a much larger scale.
Some of the other benefits that installing the APU's
has brought is reduced noise pollution,
improve customer service, and minimize delays.
This project ahs been very successful between Transport
Canada and Rail America.
It has really opened our eyes to being more costs effective,
and environmentally friendly.
Transport Canada's ecoFreight Program,
brings government and industry together to encourage
the uptake of technologies that reduce emissions
and fuel consumption.
Transport Canada's very pleased with the results of the
project by Rail America and it's four Canadian companies.
These companies saw a significant drop
in their emissions.
This clearly shows the financial payback,
and the environmental benefits.
And this is great news that we can share
with the rest of industry and with companies that are thinking
about adopting this type of technology.
RailAmerica and the Southern Ontario Railway are setting
the example for other rail operators to follow-showing
how a simple investment can have a dramatic effect
on both operating costs and the environment.