GE Transportation is a division of Wabtec. It was known as GE Rail and owned by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...

until sold to Wabtec on February 25, 2019. The organization manufactures equipment for the

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

, marine, mining, drilling and energy generation industries. The company was founded in 1907. It is headquartered in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, while its main manufacturing facility is located in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

. Locomotives are assembled at the Erie plant, while engine manufacturing takes place in Grove City, Pennsylvania. In May 2011, the company announced plans to build a second locomotive factory in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

, which opened in January 2013. BNSF 7038 GE ES44C4

Rail products

GE Transportation is the largest producer of

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

s for both

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...

and

passenger A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. Th ...

applications in North America, believed to hold up to a 70% market share. It also produces related products, such as

railroad signaling Railway signalling (), also called railroad signaling (), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enormo ...

equipment, and parts for locomotives and

railroad car A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...

s, as well as providing repair services for GE and other locomotives. Current locomotives in major production include the

GE Evolution Series The Evolution Series is a line of diesel locomotives built by GE Transportation Systems (now owned by Wabtec), initially designed to meet the U.S. EPA's Tier 2 locomotive emissions standards that took effect in 2005. The first pre-production u ...

; for a complete listing, see the list of GE locomotives.

History

GE produced its first locomotive in 1912, and continued to produce switcher locomotives through the 1920s and 30s, while also producing electrical equipment for diesel engines from other manufacturers. Heavy involvement in main-line rail transportation began with a partnership with

ALCo The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

in 1940. ALCo had been the second-largest producer of steam locomotives, and was moving into diesel traction, but needed help to compete with newly-emergent GM Electro-Motive Division. In the partnership, ALCo built the locomotive bodies and prime movers while GE supplied the electrical gear as well as marketing and servicing infrastructure. At first, the partnership was reasonably successful, producing the popular RS-1 road switcher, but by 1950

Alco-GE Alco-GE was a partnership between the American Locomotive Company and General Electric that lasted from 1940 to 1953. Their main competitor was EMD. Arrangement Alco produced locomotive bodies and prime movers while GE supplied the electrical ge ...

was struggling to keep up with EMD. In 1953, GE dissolved their partnership with ALCo and took over the gas turbine-electric venture that had started series production the previous year. In 1956 GE launched the Universal Series, which succeeded in establishing them as the main competitor to EMD. The subsequent Dash 7 Series failed to build market share, however the Dash 8 Series did better and by the end of the 1990s the Dash 9 Series established a market lead which the Evolution Series extended. In the spring of 2007, GE Transportation Systems rolled out a prototype hybrid diesel-electric locomotive to increase

fuel efficiency Fuel efficiency is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or work. Overall fuel efficiency may vary per device ...

and reduce emissions. In September 2010, GE Transportation announced plans to commercialise a hybrid design by 2014–15. On July 27, 2017, GE Transportation announced that all production of locomotives would move from

, to

, by the end of 2018. However, following the merger with Wabtec, the Erie plant remained open as operations from the former MotivePower plant in

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...

, were consolidated at Erie.

Mergers and acquisitions

On November 12, 2017, GE announced they would sell or spinoff the Transportation Division. In addition to the railroad industry, GE Transportation, a Wabtec company, also serves the following industries: Marine, Mining, Stationary Power, Drilling, and Drivetrain Technologies (wind gear boxes). On May 21, 2018, GE and Wabtec announced that GE Transportation valued at $11.1 billion, would be divested from GE and subsequently merged with Wabtec in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction by early 2019. Upon completion on February 25, 2019, the merged company was 50.8% owned by Wabtec shareholders, with GE shareholders owning 24.3% and GE itself owning 24.9%; GE also received $2.9 billion in cash.

Propulsion products

In addition to railroad locomotives and equipment, GE Transportation Systems also produces large

electric motor An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate f ...

s and propulsion systems for the

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

, oil drilling, and

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

industries. GE also provides medium-sized, medium-speed diesel engines for several smaller vessels, mostly tugboats and other similarly-sized vessels. These marine engines are marinized versions of their locomotive engines.

Battery products

GE’s battery business serves the rail, marine, telecommunications and energy sectors, including new smart grid technology.
GE's Durathon battery production takes place at their facility in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Yo ...

. A battery locomotive is in development as of 2020. On November 13th, 2020, GE sent out its first battery electric locomotive numbered 3000 to the BNSF Railway for testing on its mainline in California between Stockton and Barstow, California. It underwent various tests throughout 2021 to see the feasibility of a fully battery powered locomotive on the California main lines

References

External links

* {{GE diesels General Electric Infrastructure subsidiaries Former General Electric subsidiaries Locomotive manufacturers of the United States Engine manufacturers of the United States Diesel engine manufacturers Locomotive engine manufacturers Marine engine manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Pittsburgh Railway signalling manufacturers Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1907 Wabtec 2019 mergers and acquisitions