ERIE, PA (September 26, 2004) -- GE Transportation, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), will exhibit its GE Evolution Series™ locomotive this week at the 43rd Annual Convention of the Railway Supply Institute being held in Chicago. The new locomotives will be officially introduced for sale beginning in January 2005.
Fifty pre-production Evolution units are demonstrating that the new platform meets or exceeds the Environmental Protection Agency's 2005 Tier II emission standards. In doing so, Evolution has achieved several significant milestones:
* Nearly 3 million cumulative miles of active revenue service
* More than 35 locomotive years of experience
* More than 3 years of engine operation in GE's engine development lab
* More than 30 months of operation (lab and field)
* More than 18 months of field experience for pre-production units
Currently, five Class I railroads are running 50 Evolution locomotives (35 A.C.and 15 D.C. units), pulling freight through a number of extreme environmental and performance challenges. Both the D.C. and A.C. versions are in active field service and are Tier 2-compliant.
The first year of active service has been very encouraging. The EvolutionSeries locomotives have exceeded even our expectations in reliability and performance, especially in demanding environments," said Steve Gray, vice-president & general manager of engineering at GE Transportation. " We will continue to aggressively test pre-production units throughout the remainder of 2004 -- focusing on accumulating operating hours in the toughest North American terrains -- with the goal of introducing the most reliable product for our 2005 launch."
GE Evolution Series™ locomotives incorporate the new GEVO-12™, twelve cylinder diesel engine, which produces the same horsepower as current sixteen cylinder,4400 horsepower locomotives. The GEVO-12 cuts polluting gases and particulate matter by more than 40% and reduces fuel consumption by about 3%. GE engineers have run the GEVO-12 engine at 120% power, putting them in notch 8 for more than 120 consecutive hours, in an effort to improve reliability and to better understand engine wear.
GE Transportation (http://www.getransportation.com/) is one of the world'sLeading suppliers to the railroad industry, providing freight and passenger Locomotives, railway signalling and communications systems, value-added
Services and information technology solutions to its customers. With sales in Excess of $2.5 billion, GE Transportation's rail business employs approximately 8,000 people worldwide.
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified technology, media and financial services Company dedicated to creating products that make life better. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, medical imaging, television programming and plastics, GE operates in more than 100countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.ge.com
Chris Banocy