ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF COAL-BURNING LOCOMOTIVES: TOPICAL REPORT

The General Electric Company embarked upon a study to evaluate various alternatives for the design and manufacture of a coal fired locomotive considering various prime movers, but retaining the electric drive transmission. The initial study was supported by the Burlington-Northern and Norfolk-Southern railroads, and included the following alternatives: coal fired diesel locomotive; direct fired gas turbine locomotives; direct fired gas turbine locomotive with steam injection; raw coal gasifier gas turbine locomotive; and raw coal fluid bed steam turbine locomotive. All alternatives use the electric drive transmission and were selected for final evaluation. The first three would use a coal water slurry as a fuel, which must be produced by new processing plants. Therefore, use of a slurry would require a significant plant capital investment. The last two would use classified run-of-the-mine (ROM) coal with much less capital expenditure. Coal fueling stations would be required but are significantly lower in capital cost than a coal slurry plant. For any coal fired locomotive to be commercially viable, it must pass the following criteria: be technically feasible and environmentally acceptable; meet rairoads' financial expectations; and offer an attractive return to the locomotive manufacturer.

• Corporate Authors:

  General Electric

  Marine Turbine & Gear Engineer, 1100 Western Ave
  Lynn, MA  United States  01910
• Publication Date: 1986-2

Media Info

• Pagination: 329 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternatives analysis; Coal fuels; Cost effectiveness; Gasification; Locomotives; Vehicle design
• Old TRIS Terms: Locomotive design
• Subject Areas: Design; Economics; Highways; Railroads; Society; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00484571
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOE/MC/22181-2536
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 30 1989 12:00AM