12-12-2010, 06:03 PM
Gary S Wrote:Reinhard, I don't know whether Houston has any regulations on the trains or not. I'll have to see what I can find on that.
In the greengoats newsgroup of Yahoo wrote Mike Murry :
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Balzen"
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 9:25 PM
Subject: Genset Locomotives.
Railspotters,
There have recently been some posts about GenSet locomotives, their use and their usage areas. I have done a little research on the web concerning GenSet locomotives in the State of Texas.
The driving mechanism for GenSets is the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Within the TCEQ, an imposing bureaucracy itself, is a program called the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP). Under the TERP, grants are made to individuals and organizations to replace (primarily) diesel engine powered equipment with equipments that greatly reduce emissions for the same application. These grants are available for equipments operating in a number of air quality non-attainment areas of Texas including the DFW area, the Houston area, the Beaumont-Port Arthur area and the Austin and San Antonio areas. There may also be other areas. The grants can apply to a large number of types of equipments, both static and mobile, including "switcher" locomotives. The state has no interest in road type GenSet locomotives. Basically the grants apply to equipments replacement on a one-for-one basis.
In terms of locomotives, the locomotive being replaced, the old locomotive, must either be rebuilt into the low emissions locomotive, or it must be permanently disabled or removed from the state with a contract that it will never be returned for any kind of service. Disabling of a locomotive involves drilling three inch diameter holes through at least some of the cylinders and cutting the frame rails. Might as well scrap it. This effectively takes the target locomotive out of the market place.
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It is a Texas game!
Reinhard