Project Description
Zero Emissions Railyard System (ZERS)
Railyards are where full and/or shuttle trains pulling consist of railcars destined for various destinations are decoupled and their railcars routed by diesel switchyard locomotives to a ladder track where a train is being built for a specific destination.
Building trains at railyards is an arduous process of pulling and pushing individual or consists of railcars up and down several ladder tracks, in some cases up to 20 parallel ladder tracks, some the length of 2,000 to 4,000 ft. Because of the size and complexity of building several trains within the railyard at the same time, diesel switchyard locomotives are kept running all through the day and when they are not pulling and/or pushing railcars they are running on idle waiting for their next job.
Unlike locomotives that pull trains through a community or region once or a few times a day and emit air emissions pollution only when they traverse the area, switchyard locomotives emit air emissions pollution all through the day in the same area. Therefore, communities surrounding railyards are continuously being impacted by railyard operations.
MTS is targeting railyards for its MagRail zero emissions railyard system (ZERS). By installing MagRail LSM motors on the ladder tracks of railyards, it is possible to eliminate the need for using switchyard diesel locomotives and use a MagRail powered locomotive for pushing and pulling railcars to build trains.
