Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation (NYSE:WAB) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Rafael Santana: So, two comments. I do expect hydrogen to be, I’m going to call, both tested, and there could be an element here if government potentially steps in to create some corridors where you might be able to introduce that as an alternative fuel into the internal combustion engine. If your question is more around 100% hydrogen utilization, that’s later down the road, and that goes with fuel cells. That goes with irreversible technology. So, that’s going to take a bit more time on that. So, that’s not in the near or mid-term.

Steve Barger: Yes, I wasn’t even thinking about 100% adoption. I was just thinking about the idea that you can have a legitimate freight-hauling piece of equipment on the track in say, five years. Is the technology there?

Rafael Santana: So, we do that – similarly, we do that today with LNG. We have a tech cart that ultimately you have an engine that’s able to mix up to 78% of LNG. So, you should think along the same lines. At the same time, if there’s any issues as you’re running, or the availability of fuel is not there, you’re still able to complete the mission with the current engine that you have on. So, I think you could expect to see some experimentation there. There could even be some corridors, but I think still going to be a niche application.

Steve Barger: Understood. Thanks.

Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Kyra Yates for any closing remarks.

Kyra Yates: Thank you, Dave, and thank you, everyone, for your participation today. We look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. Goodbye.

Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.