Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp. and its partners transportation company Norfolk Southern Corp. and The Greenbrier Companies, a supplier of equipment and services to global freight transportation markets, recently announced they developed a more sustainable steel gondola railcar.
Gondola railcars are used to transport loose bulk material.
U.S. Steel’s high-strength, lighter-weight steel was able to reduce each gondola’s unloaded weight by up to 15,000 pounds. Greenbrier will engineer the gondolas and Norfolk Southern will initially purchase 800.
“The use of lightweight, high-strength steel is a real revolution for railcars,” James A. Squires, Norfolk Southern CEO and chairman, said. “Not only will each gondola carry more material, they will do so by using less energy, making our operations, and our customer’s operations, even more environmentally friendly.”
Benefits of the new gondolas include:
The steel fabrication process requires less time. The lower weight decreases the fuel needed by locomotives to haul the railcars. These lower emissions and reduce energy usage.
Gondolas are expected to have useful life of up to 50 years longer than those produced using the traditional steel fabrication process.
High-strength steel requires less structural reinforcement which allows for more total cargo space and means greater freight capacity.