BNSF, a railway operator subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -0.28%) (BRK.B -0.68%), will launch a liquefied natural gas test program in its locomotives. The company will run the program in a small number of its engines later this year in order to ascertain the viability of LNG as fuel.
BNSF has been collaborating with locomotive makers General Electric(GE -2.11%) and Caterprillar(CAT 0.07%) subsidiary EMD to develop the technology that will be utilized in the program.
The railway operator has used the fuel in its locomotives before. As Burlington Northern, it operated natural gas engines in the 1980s and 1990s. Later, successor firm BNSF tested LNG switch locomotives in California.
