Thermo King Corporation, Union Pacific Railroad, and Trinity Industries are testing the first, new refrigerated railcar in nearly three decades. This next generation of refrigerated railcars increases payload capacity by 40 percent and cubic capacity by 85 percent.
Current railcars are diesel operated and require an engine room housed within the car.
The cars require significant maintenance and consume a large amount of fuel. Union Pacific manages 5,200 refrigerated cars comprising about 70 percent of the nation's refrigerated boxcar fleet. The new high-tech reefers will be tested in the western states and then move into the major consuming areas throughout the country. We want to test the car's capability and marketability in various regions of the country with many different customers under all types of weather conditions. The unit performs a complete operational pre-trip in 20 minutes or less to ensure optimal load protection.