Wabtec seeks federal support of research
WASHINGTON — Wabtec President and CEO Rafael Santana pitched House lawmakers on Wednesday for federal support to decarbonize the U.S. rail transportation industry ahead of talks for upcoming infrastructure legislation this spring, saying the Pittsburgh-based manufacturer has a “clear path” to develop the next generation of zero-emission locomotives.
Mr. Santana, in his congressional testimony and during an interview Tuesday, touted partnerships his company has made with Carnegie Mellon University and Genesee & Wyoming Inc., a Connecticut-based rail company that operates short lines that connect shippers to larger rail lines in Western Pennsylvania and across the country.
With federal investment, the partnerships could take off under the Freight Rail Innovation Institute, a new public-private partnership envisioned to demonstrate technological advances on freight rail lines, Mr. Santana said.
“We see here a lot of opportunity,” Mr. Santana said in the interview. “This is really about moving freight from point A to point B in a faster, in a more efficient, in a safer way and, ultimately, generating no emissions, or less emissions than you would have on automotive transportation.”
J. Michael McQuade, CMU’s vice president for research, in a statement Tuesday said the institute
would “catalyze job creation in Pennsylvania and revitalize an industry with deep Pittsburgh roots.”
Mr. Santana — who testified at the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing titled “The Business Case for Climate Solutions” — will focus on the innovation and climate benefits of rail transportation powered by clean fuels and batteries.
“The depth of interest in this hearing,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio,
D-Ore., the committee’s chair, in opening remarks, “demonstrates a willingness and readiness of corporate America to be active partners in solving the monumental challenges we face regarding infrastructure and climate change.”
Such advances make business sense, as the hearing’s title suggests, for Wabtec.
Wabtec, after merging with GE Transportation in an $11 billion deal in February 2019, employs more than 27,000 people in more
than 50 countries, with the bulk of its engineers in Pennsylvania, Mr. Santana said. The company is the world’s largest freight locomotive manufacturer, with its vehicles moving more than 20% of the world’s freight.
The company, founded by George Westinghouse in 1869 as Westinghouse Air Brake Co., has been moving in recent years to supply freight carriers with
next-generation technology — as government safety and environmental mandates come into play. The company has been a key player in positive train control, an autonomous safety system required by Congress in the 2000s after high-profile train accidents caused by human error.
Wabtec is striving to power new locomotives — and retrofit the existing locomotive fleet — with batteries, hydrogen internal combustion engines, and hydrogen fuel cells. The company also produces track signaling software and other technology that, Mr. Santana said, can make rail lines more efficient and increase existing rail capacity by 50%.
In 2018, Wabtec officials announced the deal with GE Transportation as carrying the potential to advance autonomous train technology.
While self-operating systems help fly planes in the airline industry and is garnering billions in research from companies in the automobile and long-haul trucking industry, it has largely passed by railroads.
“It’s probably the most exciting part of our combination,” Raymond T. Betler, then-CEO of Wabtec, said in July 2018.
This year, the company’s battery-powered locomotive has been chugging along a 350-mile route through the hills of California’s San Joaquin Valley, achieving 10% in fuel savings so far, said Eric Gebhardt, Wabtec’s executive vice president and chief technology officer.
The goal is to get to 30% fuel savings for freight carriers, he said. (That project grew out of a $22 million grant from the California Air Resources Board, a government agency that oversees air pollution in the state.)
Mr. Santana said federal support for the research institute would give the company a much-needed boost to its endeavors by providing more resources for testing, demonstration and workforce development. The company
estimates 250,000 new jobs could be created in transportation and manufacturing by producing zeroemissions technologies.
“We’ve been able to turn that [battery-powered train] into an actual prototype; we’ve been able to validate the elements of that vision,” Mr. Santana said. “Now, we’re really moving to a next phase, which is: How do you get enough hours on that product to guarantee all the elements” of reliability, availability and safety?
Mr. Santana said there was no timeline on when an institute could be finalized, but it would be housed in the Pittsburgh region.
Companies like Wabtec could be in a position to thrive as lawmakers begin to assemble a major infrastructure package that focuses on building the next generation of clean technologies for a wide variety of industries.
Mr. Santana said in the interview he did not have specific policy or regulatory demands for lawmakers outside of investment in research.
“Incentives could always work in terms of scaling up and accelerating adoption,” he said, pointing to tax credits for the renewable power in the electricity sector. “But we’re focused here on making sure we ultimately develop the most competitive technologies.”
During Wednesday’s hearing, Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, praised Mr. Santana’s proposal to lean on public support from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U. S. Department of Energy, in particular the National Energy Technology Laboratory in South Park.
The U.S. faces tough competition from places like China and Europe, both of which have published national strategies to develop hydrogen power technologies.
“We are not the only ones in the world who are interested in improving our freight and logistics,” Mr. Lamb said. When it comes to federal investment, “one important role is simply to race the race.”