Later this year, Kansas City Southern Railway Co. (KCSR) plans to repower five GP40 locomotives at a diesel shop in Shreveport, La.

The locomotives will be equipped with more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly, eight-cylinder, 2,000-horsepower engines manufactured by Electro-Motive Diesel Inc. (EMD). The retrofit will extend the 30- to 40-year-old units’ life another 20-plus years and help the railroad reduce its carbon footprint, according to an item posted on the “KCS News” Web site. The work will be funded by the Diesel Emission Reduction Program.

EMD representatives recently met with KCSR officials to review the scope of work and lessons learned from previous repower efforts. The first three repower kits are scheduled to arrive in mid-February; the two remaining kits will be delivered in mid-March. KCSR expects all five locomotives to be repowered and field tested by September.

Last year, Kansas City Southern de México S.A. de C.V. repowered 16 locomotives while KCSR repowered 11 units under the Texas Emissions Reduction Program.