Wabtec lands order for 100 additional Evolution locomotives

From the Erie Times-News:

“The deal is a big one, both for the company at a time when orders for freight locomotives have been few and far between, and for employees in Erie, where much of the work will be done.”

GE Erie manufactured and services the original (2017) 100 unit order from Egyptian National Railways, worth $575 million. No word yet about the terms of this new order.

https://www.goerie.com/story/business/2 ... 354453001/

The folks in Erie might be a little over optimistic about all this new work. Consider, Wabtec has the locomotive plant in Ft. Worth, Tx., where the cost to build a locomotive is much cheaper than it is to build in Erie. ( I don't want this to become a union/non-union topic). Let's see how this all plays out. Should be interesting.

The Fort Worth plant is basically for domestic work. They are not set up nor do they have the experience to build for export. I don't foresee Fort Worth doing any export work besides standard gauge ES44 type exports based on domestic North American models. The Erie plant has traditionally built export locomotives and will also likely build this order of specific export model ES30ACi road units. Export orders along with some domestic rebuilds are the primary reasons that the Erie plant continues to remain open. The Erie plant also has the years of experience building export locomotives along with multi gauge tracks needed for testing narrow gauge and wide gauge export locomotives before shipment.

obsessed railfan: You do make some good points here. I guess we will see how it all plays out.