The locomotives on Sept. 4 hauled steelmaking coal from Sparwood to Golden in southeastern British Columbia and on Sept. 5 returned the empty cars to Sparwood, as part of a “unique pilot program in collaboration with Glencore (formerly Teck Resources Limited),” CPKC reported on its website (see video below). “This represents the first of three testing phases designed to validate the reliability of high-horsepower hydrogen locomotives and further enhance the technology.”
CP 1200’s dedicated fuel tender is from HGmotive Inc. (formerly CNGmotive Inc.). The supplier and railroad in January reported that they would be jointly testing a hydrogen fueling system with the HGmotive™ Prototype Tender, which started operational testing on CPKC tracks in November 2023.
The HGmotive™ Prototype Tender is said to facilitate the use of hydrogen for fuel cells on freight locomotives and comply with all the safety requirements and regulations outlined by Transport Canada, the Association of American Railroads, Federal Railroad Administration, and U.S. Department of Transportation. As testing continues, HGmotive™ is working on a larger capacity hydrogen tender. The prototype is expected to be available for validation and commissioning by mid-2025.
“The first phase of [CP 1200] testing was a complete success, and we couldn’t be happier with the results,” CPKC Assistant Vice President Operations Technology Kyle Mulligan reported. “Our team has worked tirelessly to reach this milestone, advancing our hydrogen locomotive program and steering the industry towards a low-carbon future.”
The Canadian Class I’s Hydrogen Locomotive Program began in December 2020 with the retrofit of an existing diesel-electric linehaul locomotive. The diesel prime mover and traction alternator were replaced with hydrogen fuel cell and battery technology to power the unit’s electric traction motors. In November 2021, Emissions Reduction Alberta provided a $15 million 50% matching grant to expand the initiative to three locomotives, install hydrogen production facilities at two locations, and create a “global center of excellence in hydrogen and freight rail systems” in Alberta.
The vision for the program by 2023 was to “have a hydrogen locomotive switching customer in Edmonton, a hydrogen locomotive switching customer in Vancouver, and one switching in Calgary,” according to a 2022 New York City conference presentation given by Keith Creel, who was then Canadian Pacific’s President and CEO; he became CPKC’s President and CEO in April 2023 when Canadian Pacific merged with Kansas City Southern. The next step, Creel told attendees at that time, was to “partner with a customer—we have discussions ongoing now—that has the scale and the ability with a closed loop to partner with us to build enough main line locomotives, so we can prove the technology out in the harshest of operating conditions, through the mountains of the Rockies west of Calgary. It’s a perfect test bed. If you can operate there: Heavy haul, cold temperatures, the most challenging operational conditions I’ve ever experienced in my career. And if it works there, it will work everywhere.” Creel noted that the locomotive would likely run in “local service first because you still have to develop the fueling support system across the nations.”
CPKC in January 2024 reported that its hydrogen-powered locomotives—Nos. 1001 and 1002, designed and built by in-house engineers—were operating in regular switching service at the Calgary Terminal. Keith Creel discussed the units at the MARS Winter Meeting, which was held the same month. A CPKC spokesman provided Railway Age with his comments: “We’ve got two locomotives right now that are working in 42 below weather—hardening, getting repetitions,” Creel told attendees. “They’ve got over 3,800 miles of mainline (operation so far) providing service to customers, working out of Calgary. They are switching industries in Calgary as we speak. I think we have just gone through our ninth or tenth shift of subzero temperatures with zero failures. It’s not a concept. This isn’t spin. This is real.”
No. 1001’s first revenue service move was in 2022, pulling seven freight cars from a customer facility; it also pulled the Empress, CPKC’s 1930-vintage steam locomotive, at the railroad’s Calgary mechanical shop. No. 1002 was deployed for testing in terminal operations in early 2023.
Further Reading:
- Hydrogen Tenders: Compressed or Liquid?
- Ballard Receives Order From CPKC for Additional Fuel Cell Engines
- CPKC, CSX Partner to Develop Additional Hydrogen Locomotives
- Hydrogen: Hope or Hype?
- Mind the (Hydrogen) Gaps
- Follow the Megawatt-Hours: Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Batteries and Electric Propulsion
- CP’s Hydrogen Locomotive Program Advances
- CP’s Hydrogen Locomotive Powers Up
- Ballard to Power CP’s Expanded Hydrogen Locomotive Program
- First Look: CP’s Hydrogen Zero Emissions Locomotive
Separately, CPKC Assistant Vice President Operations Technology Kyle Mulligan will discuss the Hydrogen Locomotive Program at the 2024 Railway Age / RT&S Women in Rail Conference, to be held Nov. 5-6 in Chicago. He will be joined on the Technology and Innovation panel by Jean Savage, President and Chief Executive Officer, Trinity Industries; Matthew Dick, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, ENSCO, Inc.; Michelle Bouchard, Executive Director, Caltrain (Railway Age Women in Rail, 2018); and Michael Miller, Chief Executive Officer, Genesee & Wyoming.
