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    Union Pacific buying 20 Battery-Electric Locomotives from Progress, Wabtec

    Jan. 31, 2022
    Union Pacific may spend more than $100 million for the 20 battery-electic locomotives, according to reports. The historic railroad firm announced plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050
    Battery Electri Locos 61f832411021b

    Union Pacific Railroad will purchase 10 battery-electric locomotives manufactured and delivered by a subsidiary on on-site power equipment firm Caterpillar.

    That order is only half of the overall investment being made by Union Pacific as it strives to decarbonize its freight efforts. The Omaha, Neb.-based rail giant also is acquiring 10 battery-electric locomotives from Wabtec.

    Caterpillar subsidiary Progress Rail will supply 10 of its EMD Joule-model locomotives. The EMD Joules will be built in Indiana and tested at rail yards in Nebraska and California.

    “We are pleased to supply our EMD Joule locomotives to Union Pacific representing our largest battery-electric locomotive order to-date,” said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby. “At Caterpillar, we’re continuing to invest in new products, technologies and services to support our customers during the energy transition, helping them achieve their climate-related goals as they build a better, more sustainable world.”

    The locomotives will be manufactured in Muncie, Ind., and the first units will arrive onsite in late 2023, with complete delivery anticipated in early 2024.

    Union Pacific also will buy the 10 FLXdrive battery-electrics from Wabtec. FLXdrive offer 2.5-MWh of capacity powered by 7,000 battery cells.

    WABTECH also will manufacture the new locomotives in the U.S.

    Union Pacific may spend more than $100 million for the 20 battery-electic locomotives, according to reports. The historic railroad firm announced plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

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    (Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can reached at [email protected]).

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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