LOCOMTIVES PULL INTO THE DIGITAL AGE - Century-old diesel-electric technology endures

摘要

THOUGH LOCOMOTIVE-DIESEL-ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN AROUND FOR THE better part of a century, nothing sits on the immediate horizon that will displace it for hauling freight and passenger trains in North America. From the perspectives of cost, power, control, efficiency, and reliability, a durable concept exists of a diesel engine's driving a large alternator to power traction motors on each axle. But that concept doesn't mean that GE (GE Transportation) or the EMD (Electro-Motive Division) unit of GM (General Motors), the two biggest U.S. locomotive builders, have been standing still, especially when it comes to electronics. On Jan. 12, GM, which has owned EMD since 1930> said it planned to sell the unit to Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners.