Jan 28 (Reuters) - Union Pacific Corp plans to buy
10 battery locomotives from Caterpillar Inc, Caterpillar
Chief Financial Officer Andrew Bonfield said on Friday, as the
rail company moves away from diesel fuel to meet a goal of
net-zero emissions by 2050.
The announcement was made as customers of the world's
largest construction and mining equipment maker are trying to
reduce their carbon emissions by relying less on gas and diesel
for transportation.
Union Pacific later said it will be adding 20 electric
battery locomotives to its railroads for more than $100 million.
In addition to its deal with Caterpillar, the company will
acquire the other half of rail vehicles from Wabtec Corporation.
"We have other transactions in the transportation space
around locomotives," Bonfield said in an interview with Reuters
to discuss Caterpillar's fourth-quarter results https://www.reuters.com/business/caterpillar-beats-quarterly-revenue-estimates-2022-01-28,
which showed it topping Wall Street estimates with a revenue
increase of more than 20%.
"All of those (sustainability) efforts are helping other
parts of our business."
Caterpillar Chief Executive Officer Jim Umpleby said during
the company's earnings call that Union Pacific, the largest U.S.
railroad operator by market value, is the fourth customer for
Caterpillar's rail battery electric locomotive technology.
Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz said in a statement that the
purchases would help the company reach its goal of net-zero
emissions by 2050.
On Wednesday, Canadian mining company Teck Resources Ltd
said it was deploying 30 of Caterpillar's
zero-emissions large-haul trucks as it works to be
carbon-neutral by 2050.
(Reporting by Bianca Flowers; Editing by Caroline Stauffer,
Nick Zieminski and Paul Simao)