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[[David Simms voice over] A locomotive burns a lot of fuel.]
[[Male speaker] It is one of our largest expenses as a company.]
[[David Simms voice over] In fact, last year Canadian Pacific spent $24 million on fuel, ]
[almost a quarter of its total operating expenses.]
[[Male speaker] We will burn over a billion liters of fuel in an average year.]
[And so on that basis, you can appreciate every percentage point counts.]
[[David Simms voice over] So it was open to trying a new fuel saving technology.]
[[Male speaker] It's a smart cruise control for trains.]
[[David Simms voice over] Developed by General Electric, a software that works with data ]
[about how long the train is, its weight, track conditions, even weather.]
[The crew enters the destination and the technology selects the best route ]
[using a digital map that includes data about hills and curves.]
[[Male speaker] And it uses those hills and curves, along with the train's momentum, ]
[to minimize braking and, therefore, save fuel.]
[[Male speaker] CP tried this on 18 locomotives earlier this year ]
[in the Rockies, across the prairies, into northern Ontario,]
[and found fuel savings of as much as 10%.]
[This technology has been in development for five years.]
[The biggest challenge was getting the right balance of throttle control.]
[[Male speaker] A freight train is like a big, heavy slinky.]
[And if the throttles are not controlled properly ]
[the train could be stretched to the point of breaking in two, ]
[or the train could be bunched up, causing a derailment.]
[[David Simms voice over] CP was impressed enough to adopt it for part of its fleet.]
[[Male speaker] Initially for 200 of our locomotive fleet and we'll be looking at next steps.]
[[David Simms voice over] GE believes if this technology was used on every train in North America]
