GE Transportation is a division of

Wabtec Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation, commonly known as Wabtec, is an American company formed by the merger of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO) and MotivePower in 1999. It is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Wab ...

. It was known as GE Rail and owned by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

until sold to

on February 25, 2019. The organization manufactures equipment for the

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

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

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, 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. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

. Locomotives are assembled at the Erie plant, while engine manufacturing takes place in

Grove City, Pennsylvania Grove City is a borough in southeastern Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States, located approximately north of Pittsburgh and south of Erie. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,894. It is part of the Hermitage micropolitan area. It ...

. In May 2011, the company announced plans to build a second locomotive factory in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, which opened in January 2013.

Rail products

GE Transportation is the largest producer of

diesel–electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source 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 whee ...

s for both

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

and

passenger A passenger 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. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

applications in North America, believed to hold up to a 70% market share of that market. The only other significant competitor is

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

-owned

Electro-Motive Diesel Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motive ...

, holding an approximate 30% market share. GE Transportation also produces related products, such as railroad signaling equipment, and parts for locomotives and

railroad car A railroad car, railcar (American English, American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and International Union of Railways, UIC), also called a tra ...

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 United States, U.S. United States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA's United States emission standa ...

; for a complete listing, see the

list of GE locomotives The following is a list of locomotives produced by GE Transportation Systems, a subsidiary of Wabtec. All were/are built at Fort Worth, Texas or Erie, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Most (except the electrics, the switchers, the AC6000CW, a ...

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 that operated from 1901 to 1969, initially specializing in the production of locomotives but later diversifying and fabricating at various time ...

in 1940. ALCo had been the second-largest producer of steam locomotives, and was moving into diesel traction, but needed help to compete with the 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 Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

diesel–electric locomotive to increase

fuel efficiency Fuel efficiency (or fuel economy) is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical energy, chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or Mechanical work, w ...

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 MotivePower, Inc. (MPI) was an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives. The company traces its history back to being a division of Morrison-Knudsen (MK) since 1972.Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

, were consolidated at Erie.

Mergers and acquisitions

In November 2015, French multinational

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

, which now specialises in rail, acquired GE Transportation's Signaling & Train Control division. On November 12, 2017, GE announced they would sell or spinoff the Transportation Division. In addition to the railroad industry, GE Transportation, also serves the following industries: Marine, Mining, Stationary Power, Drilling, and Drivetrain Technologies (wind gear boxes). On May 21, 2018, GE and

announced that GE Transportation, valued at $11.1 billion, would be divested from GE and subsequently merged with Wabtec in a

Reverse Morris Trust A Reverse Morris Trust is the term for a type of financial transaction in United States law that combines a divisive reorganization (spin-off) with an acquisitive reorganization ( statutory merger) to allow a tax-free transfer (in the guise of a m ...

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 a 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 electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

s and propulsion systems for the

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

oil drilling An oil well is a drillhole boring (earth), boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produ ...

, and

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

industries. GE also provides medium-sized, medium-speed diesel engines for several smaller vessels, mostly tugboats and other similarly-sized

vessels Vessel(s) or the Vessel may refer to: Biology *Blood vessel, a part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body *Lymphatic vessel, a thin walled, valved structure that carries lymph *Vessel element, a narrow wat ...

. 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 (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

. A battery locomotive is in development as of 2020. On November 13, 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