Nov 28 2009
Canadian Pacific has partnered with Natural Resources Canada, under the National Renewable Diesel Demonstration Initiative, to carry out a pilot project on biodiesel. Lee Richardson, Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre announced this on behalf of Fred Green, Canadian Pacific President and CEO and Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister for Natural Resources, and this is the first time biodiesel will be used in Canadian cold-weather rail service.
According to Richardson, the Government of Canada works closely with industry partners like Canadian Pacific in order to support the use of renewable diesel in the Canadian fuel market. The Government of Canada will be investing $800,000 to help to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.
The National Renewable Diesel Demonstration Initiative has provided an opening for performance evaluation and real-world testing in advance of regulatory action. The Government of Canada has also announced its objective to control at least 5% renewable fuel content based on the national gasoline pool by the year 2010, and also to control the requirement for 2% renewable content in diesel fuel and heating oil by the year 2011 or earlier, which is subject to technical possibility. It will also provide a chance to test the dependability of biodiesel in cold weather.
Canadian Pacific will operate four GE AC4400 Diesel Locomotives with FDL-16 engines, as a part of the five-month test cycle, between Edmonton and Calgary. 4Refuels and General Electric will work along with CP during the testing phase, which began in early November 2009 and will run through the end of March 2010. Canadian Pacific will carry on with detailed mechanical examinations of the locomotives used in the pilot project. The data gathered will be utilized to decide if the biodiesel mixture of 5% (B5) has any adverse effects on the locomotive or its accessories in cold-climate operation. The scope of maintenance work, significant changes after servicing, impact to reliability and analysis of specific components in the locomotives will also be observed.
Source: http://www8.cpr.ca/cms/default.htm