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Fall 2008
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Here Come Longer More Efficient Trains
It's not just how much horsepower you've got, it's also how you use it.
Longer trains mean fewer meets, more time slots for maintenance, and a more efficient use of running trade
employees; but all those gains can be offset by higher fuel costs and greater stress on track infrastructure if
locomotive horsepower is not carefully matched to the load being hauled.
It's important to not overpower trains with more units than are required to pull the number of cars in a consist;
it's even more critical to place the locomotives at the proper location for maximum pulling power and minimum wear
and tear on rails, spikes, and ties, particularly in curves.
Canadian Pacific is a long-time industry leader in the effective use of distributed power - and we're
getting even better.
"We've learned that where we place power in a train dramatically improves train/track dynamics and conserves
fuel, by using locomotive tractive effort more efficiently to move the train forward", said Stan Bell, director
of product design and a key member of our E3 team that is, quite literally, executing a longer
train plan with excellence, for greater efficiency.
"We were convinced that we could operate bigger trains with the same number of locomotives, by distributing the
power in a different way throughout the train".
Theory became reality when the team that is testing longer trains and the locomotives that power them tried the new
approach with a series of potash trains, starting in August.
"Changing the train's configuration from our usual practice of using two head-end units and two
mid-train units to a model with two locomotives in front, one mid-train, and one at the
end offered a significantly improved "tractive footprint", Stan said, "while dramatically lowering
the lateral forces the train placed on track infrastructure".
Lateral forces tend to push the rails outward as trains negotiate curves, causing tremendous stresses, which in turn
result in increased maintenance and accelerated replacement. Reducing the lateral forces of our heaviest trains by
20 percent can double the life of our track infrastructure. Mike Roney, general manager for technical standards,
engineering, had played a key role in quantifying the impact of lateral forces on track maintenance and replacement.
Already the "longer train team" - with employees from product design, the Network Management Centre (NMC),
mechanical, rules & regulatory affairs, and the service areas - has demonstrated that more tonnage can be
pulled, more efficiently, with the same amount or less horsepower.
The four-unit potash test trains are 142 cars or about 7,000-feet long and weigh 20,400
tons. Previously, our potash trains with the same number of locomotives have been 124 cars or about
6,100-feet long, at about 17,700 tons. That's a 17 percent improvement in hauling power.
"The tonnage in the test trains actually exceeded the haulage limits for four locomotives at Medicine Hat,
where the controlling grade is for the West", Stan said. "The first train departed Medicine Hat in heavy
rain and climbed the grade at 10 mph, where a train with two head-end and two mid-train
locomotives would certainly have stalled".
"This is what E3 is all about", Stan said, "making calculated decisions and
executing well. In this case, it's about optimizing the train/track interaction. It's adding capacity without adding
capital".
So, will we be seeing more longer trains in our future, with more efficient distribution of power?
"Absolutely", says Brock Winter, senior vice-president of operations. "Accelerating this
initiative means we will see savings this year, in 2009 and beyond. This is the kind of innovative thinking we need
to really stretch our assets. It's a real E3 win".
This Momentum article is copyright
2008 by the Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with
their permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Company.
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