… With CSXT locomotive engineering veteran Don Robey

Railway Age, June, 2007 by Marybeth Luczak

Do we really need all this horsepower?" That's the question Don Robey posed for years before sky-high fuel prices finally convinced others the answer was, "No." Once given the okay to reduce it, Robey developed and implemented an innovative yard locomotive program estimated to save 12.5 million gallons of fuel and cut 100,000 tons of greenhouse gases over the next five years. His work led to this year's John H. Chafee Award--the highest industry honor presented for environmental achievement. Robey is the fifth CSX Transportation employee to receive it since 1999.

"Twenty-five years ago, 3,000-hp, four-axle locomotives were the railroads' workhorses," Robey says. "Now they're running in local and switching service and the extra horsepower doesn't make sense. You don't need speed; you need tractive effort."

Robey has spent nearly 16 of the past 28 years overseeing CSX's 3,800-unit fleet, most recently as director-locomotive engineering. In the late 1990s he began his winning program retrofitting GP40-2s. With guidance from EMD, Robey's team determined that pinning the turbo's clutch and changing out the injectors and governors would help the engine run at a lower RPM. Not only did fuel emissions fall, turbo failure was practically eliminated. The program later expanded to SD40-2s assigned to yard service. A similar need arose to reduce horsepower and save fuel on SD50s. Robey partnered with Elcon, Inc., to develop special control modules for the SD50s to regulate the generators' kilowatt output. In addition, the governor was changed--with the modification work taking just three hours to complete. So far, about 200 locomotives have been modified and another 250 are scheduled.

Robey has headed up a variety of other initiatives. His department co-produced the nationally acclaimed Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) for which CSX won a Chafee award as well as an EPA Clean Air Excellence Award in 2001. The APU cut locomotive idling and reduced fuel usage and air emissions to meet EPA's Tier 0 rules. In the mid-90s, the department fine-tuned fueling processes. "We were spilling about 3 million gallons a year while filling locomotives," Robey says. "Now, we average less than 100,000 gallons."

His most rewarding project came early in his CSX career. "I had been working around locomotives for about 13 years, but never got into the engineering details of locomotives until given an assignment pertaining to axles, bull gears, and wheels," Robey tells me. His job was to assess the Huntington, W.Va., wheel/ axle shop, which was experiencing 25-30 line-of-road set-offs a month for running gear failures. Fifty-two process changes later, failures were significantly diminished. "If we have 15-20 a year now, it's a rarity," he says with pride. "We made simple changes-like switching the type of paper towels used to wipe excess oil off axles--as well as more longer-term changes such as major upgrades to the lathes. While we didn't see results overnight, the changes added up and paid off." CSX recognized Robey's efforts with its Award of Excellence.

What's next? Tackling industry challenges like, "What are we going to use for yard and industrial switch power in the future?" Robey says. Today, railroads focus locomotive purchasing on six-axle units, whose lifespan is about 25 years. "But not many of the new six-axles can be cascaded into local service and switching due to their weight and horsepower," he explains. "We need new 1,500-hp, four-axles." The models on CSX's property are 30-plus years old. "They can't last forever," Robey points out. And the newest low-emissions "green" switchers may not be able to fill the void--due to price and the separate parts inventory and education required to maintain them.

Another challenge: EPA's proposed new diesel line-haul, switch, and passenger rail locomotive regulations announced in March. They aim to cut particulate matter and NOx emissions by 90% and 800 respectively. EPA wants to set new, Tier 3 exhaust emissions standards and idle reduction requirements starting in 2009, and tighten emission standards for existing locomotives when they are remanufactured, beginning as early as 2008 but no later than 2010. Finally, it proposes establishing long-term, Tier 4 standards for newly built engines based on the application of "high-efficiency catalytic aftertreatment technology," commencing in 2015. CSX has already taken action and is committed to working with EPA. Nearly one-third of its fleet is slated to have environmentally friendly upgrades by 2009.

But the aggressive new standards have many, like Robey, concerned. While "current technology can take you there," he says, locomotives will have to be outfitted with new components (exhaust filters, etc.), which, when combined, are roughly the same size as the locomotive engine itself. Increasing a locomotive's size isn't an optimal solution. "We have clearance restrictions that cannot be exceeded," Robey says. The good news, he says, is that EPA "gave the industry a significant window to further develop the technology and make it more compact."