CP and CN set sights on putting first zero-emission locomotives into operation

Source: Kerry Banks | · ELECTRIC AUTONOMY CANADA · | March 2, 2022

After both companies announced their first forays into the market last year — CP choosing hydrogen fuel cell, CN buying battery-electric — they are now readying plans to put their pilots into service in late 2022 and 2023.

Source: Canadian Pacific and Canadian National will be deploying zero-emission locomotives. Photo: Canadian Pacific/Twitter

Few business rivalries run as deep as that between Canada’s two national railway companies, Calgary-based Canadian Pacific and Montreal’s Canadian National.

Takeover battles and boardroom clashes have defined their relationship for years. It’s somewhat fitting, then, that when both companies recently unveiled their first zero-emission alternatives to diesel-powered locomotives, one chose hydrogen fuel cell and the other battery-electric.

In October, CP released an image of its first prototype, a distinctive green and blue locomotive known as the H2 OEL, which stands for Hydrogen Zero Emissions Locomotive. A North American first, the H2 OEL is retrofit of an existing diesel-electric linehaul locomotive (linehaul locomotives move freight and passenger cars between yards and terminals) in which hydrogen fuel cell and battery technology now power the unit’s electric traction motors rather than a diesel engine.

Just weeks later, CN announced the purchase of its first battery-electric freight locomotive from Wabtec, a Pittsburgh-based manufacturer. The locomotive will feature the second generation of Wabtec’s FLXDrive battery-electric technology, with a seven MWh battery capacity.

CN expects delivery of the new locomotive in 2023. It plans to use it on the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad on a 224-kilometre route that runs from the suburbs of Pittsburgh to Conneaut, Ohio.