Product Description

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that the General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) 645 — the two-stroke, uniflow-scavenged V-configuration diesel introduced in 1965 as successor to the EMD 567 and produced through the 1990s in V8, V12, V16, and V20 arrangements (E-series Roots-blown, F-series turbocharged) — was manufactured and repeatedly overhauled using asbestos-containing gaskets, packing, and sealing components at every hot-side and pressurized sealing surface.

The 645 was the dominant North American road-locomotive prime mover in the SD40, SD40-2, GP38, GP38-2, SD45, SD50, and SD60 platforms — meaning virtually every Class I railroad diesel shop rebuilt 645-series power packs through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The 645 also powered Great Lakes and coastal vessels, Coast Guard and Navy auxiliary craft (including in the “T”-configuration marine/stationary variants), and standby generator installations. Litigation records describe alleged chrysotile-bearing gasket material at the 645’s cylinder head-to-liner joints, at the exhaust manifold and elbow flanges, at the air-box handhole and inspection covers characteristic of the uniflow two-stroke architecture, at the Roots-blower housing on E-series and at the turbocharger mounting pad on F-series builds, and at jacket-water and lube-oil piping unions.

Power-pack replacement — the standard EMD field-overhaul operation in which the entire cylinder assembly (liner, piston, head, and injector) is pulled and swapped — allegedly required scraping baked-on gasket residue from the head-to-liner sealing surface, from air-box handhole covers, and from exhaust manifold flanges. Locomotive machinists and shopmen performed this operation thousands of times per year at each Class I heavy-repair facility.

Workers Exposed

  • Locomotive machinists and shopmen at Class I railroad heavy-repair facilities performing 645 power-pack changes, top-end overhauls, and in-frame rebuilds through the 1970s–1990s
  • Marine engineers and boat yard mechanics overhauling 645-series propulsion engines on Great Lakes vessels, tugs, and coastal ships
  • Navy and Coast Guard enginemen (EN) on auxiliary craft equipped with 645-series marine engines
  • Standby generator technicians maintaining 645-based gensets at utilities, industrial plants, and military installations
  • Pipefitters and insulators working around lagged 645 exhaust piping during shop outages and repowerings