Caterpillar Clean-Diesel Engines Powering Next Generation
of Transit Buses in Cleveland, Ohio

Caterpillar clean-diesel engines powered by ACERT^® Technology will be the engine of choice in a new fleet of buses ordered by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA).

The RTA will use the new clean-diesel buses to take the place of older buses powered by compressed natural gas.

"This is another strong signal that Caterpillar engines with ACERT Technology provide our customers with the reliability and durability they have come to expect from a Cat product while also offering emissions solutions in this application," said James J. Parker, Caterpillar vice president with responsibility for the Power Systems Marketing Division.

The new fleet of buses will be manufactured by North American Bus Industries, Inc. (NABI) and will feature Caterpillar C9 engines. The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has exercised options to purchase 92 clean-diesel buses from NABI.

"This is a great opportunity for NABI to once again provide clean-diesel buses to one of our larger customers," said Bill Coryell, NABI Vice President of Sales. "We expect about half of these buses to be delivered before the end of this year, with the remaining buses to be delivered in 2006."

Caterpillar entered the urban transit engine market when the company formed its bus and specialty vehicle group in 2001. Since then, a growing number of transit authorities, from Honolulu to Boston, have purchased buses powered by the Caterpillar C9 engine.

"The historic durability of diesel engines is well known, but the traditional perception is that they are not environmentally friendly, which is no longer the case," said Joe Calabrese, general manager and chief executive officer of RTA. "To further enhance this new engine technology, RTA is one of the first transit systems in the nation to use ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel for even cleaner emissions. These new clean-diesel buses will play a key role in helping the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority meet its goal of having an entire fleet that is environmentally friendly."

The C9 with ACERT Technology offers customers in the urban transit industry emissions that are even lower than EPA's stringent 2004 emissions guidelines. Those standards require more exacting tests to demonstrate lower emissions over longer periods of time. Since being introduced, more than 200,000 engines with ACERT Technology have been sold for on-highway use. Additionally, Caterpillar has reduced emissions in North American on-highway engines by nearly 90 percent since 1988, with an additional 90 percent reduction to follow by 2007.

"This sale to RTA is typical of the trend Caterpillar is seeing within the public transportation industry, as there has been a tremendous increase in demand for Caterpillar engines featuring ACERT Technology to help transit authorities looking to meet stringent emission standards," Parker said.

ACERT is a differentiated, breakthrough technology that reduces emissions at the point of combustion. The technology will also be used as the foundation to meet future emission regulations for the company's entire diesel engine product line, including construction and mining machines and power generation units.

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Issue 34 9/27/05
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