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CÔTE D’IVOIRE: The first two of six GT26 diesel locomotives being supplied from the USA by NRE were unloaded at the Port of Abidjan on June 24. The remaining four are scheduled to arrive by August.

Bolloré Africa Logistics subsidiary Sitarail holds the concession to operate the 1 260 km metre gauge network linking Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. It operates 40 freight and 12 passenger trains a week, totalling 910 000 tonne-km and 300 000 passenger-km a year.

The company said the additional locomotives would provide a boost in capacity to meet ‘constantly growing demand’ from its customers.

“NRE Locos Arrive in Abidjan” Railway Gazette, web. 4 July. 2015.

It’s difficult to miss the campus of NRE (National Railway Equipment) Paducah – it sprawls nearly three blocks from the corner of 16th and Kentucky toward the river. But for many locals, the building’s inner workings remain a mystery. Behind the more than 6.5 million bricks that make up NRE Paducah’s walls, about 200 employees build and refurbish locomotives, which will then be sent to distant locations around the world, such as Saudi Arabia, Kenya and Australia.

“It’s very good business, very cyclical, and we’ve been riding the top of the wave for a long time, both domestically and export-wise,” NRE Paducah Vice President and General Manager Bob Pederson said.

The shops, formerly known as VMV Paducahbilt, have been a part of the town’s landscape since construction on the complex started in 1925. It was completed in 1927, and Illinois Central Railroad paid $7 million for it at the time. The NRE’s lobby displays a photograph of the campus partially engulfed in water from the 1937 flood.

“There are so many people in Paducah that can say ‘My grandfather worked for the VMV,'” Pederson said.

Before 1962, the complex was devoted to producing steam engines. Now, visitors can see the vault in the ceiling’s skylights that accommodated the locomotive’s smoke stacks before diesel-electric engines took over the industry. That’s also the era when NRE saw the highest employment, boasting 1,447 workers in September 1942. Although there are far fewer employees now, the numbers are up from 2012 when, according to Sun files, the plant employed 144 full-time staff.

The complex was privately owned and known as VMV through the 1980s and ’90s. National Railroad Equipment, based in Mount Vernon, Illinois, purchased the facility in 2002. NRE has 13 locations around the globe, Corporate EHS Manager Colby Davis said, but Paducah has its largest.

Sparks flew under the four-story-high ceiling as welders worked on Tuesday. Others repaired engines, operated cranes or swept out the wells that catch the oil and other waste after workers have finished with a locomotive. “Each locomotive weighs about 428,000 pounds,” Pederson said, “and can be transported through the building by one of the cranes that glide overhead.”

“Everything we have in this facility is big, heavy and – I hate to say it – dangerous. That’s why we stress safety,” Pederson said.

It shows. The company is on track to receive an award today for more than a million man-hours worked without a lost-time accident, according to Kentucky Labor Secretary Larry L. Roberts. This marks the second consecutive year NRE has earned the award.

“This is what the United States used to be about: smokestack industry,” said Pederson as he walked the floor, which covers half a million square feet on 110 acres. “And that’s what we still are.”

“After eight decades in town, NRE still chugging along.” The Paducah Sun, web. 10 Dec. 2014.

Galesburg, IL – BNSF continues 16th week operation of NRE’s (National Railway Equipment) high adhesion NR33CDE-IAC locomotive.  The modified six axle SD40 locomotive fully fueled weighs 385,000 pounds and contains a NRE remanufactured 3300hp-645E3-AR10-D78s extended DB propulsion platform.   Equipped with NRE’s NFORCE microprocessor, traction control card and Independent Axle Control (IAC) modules, the locomotive achieves 33-34% tractive effort.

“This technology can be applied to any 4 or 6 axle, DC traction motor equipped, switch or line haul GE or EMD locomotive.  Improve your SD60s, SD75s GPs and or Dash 8s fleets to 33-34% tractive effort at a fraction of the cost of a new locomotives,” said Keith Batley, AVP Sales of NRE.  “IAC control will improve adhesion by 50% over dash 2 control.  This technology allows Mechanical departments the leverage of maintaining their traditional single engine, low cost to maintain propulsion package and Transportation, like new high adhesion performance in a maintainable asset.  In heavy trailing tonnage high usage operation, IAC is all about asset utilization.  Start and maintain 50% more trailing tons save significant fuel and lower maintenance cost by full utilization of assets,” Batley stated.

The operational testing of the IAC locomotive NRE 4321 showed promising results at the BNSF Galesburg, IL Hump Yard.  BNSF was able to hump the same amount of tonnage/cars (Average 11K tons) using the IAC & 1 RCL remote control locomotive consistently and once the shove was at speed, using lower throttle notches than typically used on a three SD40-2 locomotive hump set.  This suggests BNSF could reduce the three locomotive hump set in this yard by one locomotive and achieve significant fuel savings by utilizing this technology. The IAC technology could be one of the best DC locomotive upgrades to come along since Microprocessors based control systems.

• Fuel savings in high asset utilized operations
• AC locomotive performance on a DC traction locomotive at a fraction of the cost of new.
• Independent axle control
• HP maintained during wheel slip (VELOCITY)
• Enhanced motor protection
• Reduced alternator loading
• Commonality parts, maintenance and training

We are excited about how the technology will have an immediate impact on our industry.  Considering the demands for additional power within North American and abroad no other system delivers power at a lower cost point, stated Steven L. Beal, President and CEO of NRE.

National Railway Equipment Co., headquartered in Mount Vernon, IL, announced the transfer of the company to the newly formed NRE – Global Holdings Inc. (NRE), an Employee Stock Ownership Trust (ESOP).  As part of a previous ongoing branding campaign, the company will simply be called NRE.   NRE, a family-owned corporation since its inception in 1984 by founder Lawrence J. Beal, enlisted Chicago based American Working Capital (AWC) to work with the Beal family to design and implement a customized ESOP structure to ensure NRE’s continued financial flexibility, strength, and leadership by its CEO, Steven L. Beal and executive management team.

“From the time my father started this company, it has always been our intention to remain a privately held business.  This ESOP transaction allows us to achieve several goals all at once; to reward the employees who have worked so hard to build NRE with a stake in its future growth and to continue our legacy as a privately owned company.  Additionally, our executive management team, which guided the business through the recent recession and onto its current growth trajectory, will remain in day-to-day control of the company.  We are able to accomplish something for our entire company, family and all of our employees for years to come,” stated Steven Beal. “We feel this will help create a corporate culture for NRE that will allow us to retain our talented workforce, while providing incentive to come and be a part of the NRE family.”

NRE is a vertically integrated provider of new and remanufactured locomotives for sale or lease, third party locomotive and marine engine overhaul and maintenance services, and locomotive parts and components. Since its inception in 1984, NRE has grown to encompass 14 North American and four international facilities and affiliates making it the world’s largest independent supplier of leased locomotives, new and remanufactured locomotives; new and rebuilt mechanical materials; electrical components; technical support and field services.

NRE will continue in the business of selling, rebuilding, leasing, and servicing railway equipment, and is the exclusive developer of the N-ViroMotive, the leading Environmental Protection Agency Tier II, III and IV certified locomotive featuring advances in the reduction of emissions, noise and fuel consumption.

“The Beal family and our executive management team are proud to announce that we are 100% employee-owned and we look forward to sharing our continued success with our 1,000 employees and customers across the globe that work to make NRE what it is today,” Beal said. “While we are very proud of our heritage and where we came from, we are looking forward to continuing on a path as a team and a family.”

On September 21, NRE, formerly National Railway Equipment Company, launched a new look at the Railway Supply Institute’s (RSI) annual trade show and conference in Montreal, Canada. The new brand represents the growth of the company into expanded product and service lines, as well as internationally. Moving forward they will simply be known as NRE.

NRE designs and manufactures new locomotives from the ground up.  They remanufacture and supply parts to the locomotive market.  They repower existing locomotives to give them new life and make them more efficient and powerful. They service and maintain locomotives including an extensive North American and global field service network. They design and manufacture electronic control and propulsion products to the rail industry.  They buy used locomotives, re-engineer and remanufacture for sale or lease.  They provide salvage service.  They even service inland power and off shore vessels for the marine industry.

“Many of our customers don’t know us as we are today. Our repower customer doesn’t likely know that we provide wheels or electronics. Our wheelworks customer probably doesn’t know that we are capable of engineering and building a locomotive from the ground up,” said NRE President Steven Beal. “In order to continue to grow and compete on a global level, this is an issue that we decided to address,” he added.

NRE unveiled a new logo, colors, print materials, social media presence and announced the development of their new website, www.nre.com, which will include a mobile version. Their new look also appears in their locomotives, products, paint schemes as well as official documents. As part of the new brand, all 14 North American and 5 International locations will implement the identity system.

“By bringing all of our domestic and international corporations and physical locations under a single unified brand, our marketing efforts will be more effective,” stated Keith Batley, NRE AVP, North American Sales. “It will also better represent the size and scope of the company that we are today.”

For more information, please contact Keith Batley at 920-915-1825.