GREEN Goat is designed to be much more environmentally-friendly than traditional diesel shunters. It is produced by remanufacturing existing shunting locomotives, and replacing the diesel engine with a small Tier II/Tier III diesel generating set and large banks of recyclable lead-acid batteries.
RailPower says that compared with a conventional shunter in the 750 to 1500kW range, Green Goat will produce fuel savings of between 40 and 60%, and cut nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions by 80 to 90% and greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 60% depending on the duty cycle.
The remanufacturing process starts with the reconditioning of all components below the underframe. This includes overhauling the traction motors and rebuilding the bogies. Everything inside the locomotive is stripped out to make way for the new components. These consist of a microprocessor control system with wheel slip control, the generator set, an ac-motor-driven air compressor, and specially designed maintenance-free VRLA VGM batteries.
The digital electronic management of the transfer of energy to the batteries is designed to provide power from the batteries the moment it is required, and avoids the need for the locomotive to warm up. RailPower says that this, together with better wheel slip control, means that Green Goat is able to generate about 35% more starting tractive effort than conventional shunters. Green Goat is available in two versions: the GK10B 750kW shunter and the GG20B 1500kW unit. Both have a maximum speed of 100km/h, are capable of multiple operation, and have a B-B wheel arrangement. The GK10B has a 90kW Perkins diesel engine generating set, whereas the GG20B is fitted with a Caterpillar C9/Leroy Somer 200kW unit.
In July, the Texas Emission Reduction Program approved $US 24.4 million in funds to enable three Class 1 railways, two regional railways, and three operators of industrial shunters to purchase more than 25 Green Goat locomotives. This is part of a project by Texas to invest more than $US 100 million a year up to 2008 in schemes designed to improve air quality in Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, and other urban areas with high levels of pollution.
In August, RailPower signed a memorandum of understanding with United Goninan, Australia, to market the Green Goat in Australia and southeast Asia. "There are a number of key areas around the world which we believe represent great market opportunities for our technology," said Mr Jim Maier, president and CEO of RailPower. He described United Goninan as "the ideal partner for RailPower" in this new market. Also in August, Amtrak agreed to lease a Green Goat shunter on a 60-day lease to shunt passenger coaches.
On September 23, the US Department of Transportation's (DOT) Volpe National Transportation System Center ordered three Green Goats for use in army bases in Barstow and Sierra, California, and Fort Lewis, Washington. "This order comes after a lengthy due diligence process," Maier said. "The US government has hundreds of switcher locomotives. The order brings with it the potential for wider adoption of the technology throughout the US military and DOT locomotive fleets.'
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