According to 2020 data, there are 37 trillion tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the world. Freight transport by road causes more than half of carbon emissions. Studies show that this causes 40 times more poisonous gas to be released. In order to reduce carbon emissions in the USA, the introduction of electric trains in rail freight transportation has gained importance.
In recent months, news has come to the fore that Pittsburgh-based rail company Wabtec has launched a fully electric train called FLXdrive. It was announced that the vehicle started to serve in the USA as a freight train. This development brought another dimension to train transportation, which generally carries out passenger transportation. The vehicles developed by the company, which was founded in 1999, use 7 megawatt batteries. Allegedly, the freight train is 100 times stronger than a Tesla car.
It has been only two months since the vehicles of the company, which has 9 employees across Europe, came to the market. However, companies active in the transportation sector have already started to demand Wabtec's vehicles.
Canadian railway company CN is one of Wabtec's first customers. In January, Rio Tinto, the world's leading mining company, signed an agreement with its company to purchase 4 FLXdrives. The company will use these vehicles in rail operations in Western Australia's Pilbara region. The company plans to build its rail network from electric vehicles by 2030. BHP Group, considered one of the largest mining companies in the world, ordered two vehicles from Wabtec, to be delivered in 2023.
He also works for the Europe Rail Joint Undertaking (ERJU), which was created to promote the "radical transformation of the rail system". This project is part of the European Union's €10 billion plan for zero emissions. “We are developing high-tech products for this project,” Wabtec's Lilian Leroux states, emphasizing the importance of the project for the company.
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