NEXT-GEN SMALL-ROAD MOTIVE POWER, RAILWAY AGE MARCH 2025 ISSUE: Short lines and switching operations face several hurdles if they want to acquire locomotives powered by fuels beyond diesel.
For starters, the biggest hurdle for short lines and switching operations to acquire alternative-fueled locomotives is cost. They often look to the secondary market to keep costs lower. However, the regulatory trend in recent years has called for the freight transportation sector—including short line operations—to reduce GHG (greenhouse gas emissions). If short line operations were to comply with these regulations, that could potentially result in a lot of equipment changes. OptiFuel Systems founder and CEO Scott Myers, for example, estimates there are 10,000 switchers operating in the U.S., and 90% of them are between 40 and 50 years old.
Given the regulatory landscape, several suppliers, ranging from large firms like Wabtec and Progress Rail (a Caterpillar company) to smaller outfits like Innovative Rail Technologies, KLW and OptiFuel, have been developing alternative fuel technologies that can accommodate the varying needs of short line operations. These typically differ from line-haul rail operations since short lines might operate shorter distances, haul less tonnage or be used in shorter durations operationally.
Options Abound
“Wabtec is working on a variety of alternative energy solutions for railroads including batteries, biofuels/renewable fuels and hydrogen,” spokesperson Tim Bader said. “The mix of Wabtec products and technologies used by customers will vary depending on the railroad’s fleet mix, operations, routes, and energy needs. Alternative power options for short line and switching operations include biofuels, including biodiesel and renewable diesel; battery-electric (BE), and hydrogen. As customer needs vary, Wabtec is utilizing a flexible and growing portfolio of products and innovative technologies across both our large installed base and new assets to support customers’ goals.”
To determine what type of locomotive a short line or switching operation should pursue, companies need to assess several factors, according to OptiFuel’s Myers: fuel savings and costs, the horsepower and tractive effort needed to run operations effectively, and the duty cycle, which itself depends on how a company plans to run their locomotives. For instance, a railroad might replace one diesel locomotive with two battery-electric locomotives. This is because one BE locomotive doesn’t have enough power to run a full duty cycle. When the first BE locomotive runs out of power, the railroad can replace it with a second BE unit. Myers described this approach as being used at Watco’s Green Port Terminal on the Houston Ship Channel. If a railroad is in an industrial area or port and needs to run its locomotive for a shorter duration, like six hours, then a BE “could work well,” he said.
The Port of Los Angeles & Long Beach is a major switching operation using BE locomotives. Short line operator Anacostia Rail Holdings subsidiary Pacific Harbor Line (PHL), which serves as the port’s rail operator and CARB (California Air Resource Board) received partial funding for five zero-emission locomotives. A Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Consolidated Rail Infrastructure & Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant will help fund the acquisition. The five zero-emission locomotives will build upon PHL’s successful first year of operations with its zero-emission Progress Rail EMD® Joule SD40JR BE locomotive. CARB applied for the CRISI grant, which will be used for PHL’s acquisition, as well as Watco’s acquisition of four BE locomotives and two battery chargers, and Sacramento Valley Railroad’s acquisition of one HFC (hydrogen fuel cell)-powered locomotive.
PHL is contributing $6.37 million toward the $34.2 million cost of its new locomotives and chargers. Bringing on four additional BE units is expected to reduce NOx emissions by more than 17 tons per year and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) by 0.249 tons per year, and to eliminate 459 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year. The EMD® Joule is available in five configurations, new or repowered (“R” nomenclature)—SD70J (6 axles, 8.0 MWh maximum battery capacity); SD70J-BB (8 axles, 14.5 MWh); SD40JR (6 axles, 4.0 MWh); GT38JB (4 axles, 4.0 MWh); and GT38JC (6 axles, 4.0 MWh). These units all feature regenerative braking for battery recharging. Customers can specify what they prefer in MWh, up to the maximum rating. The modular EMD® Joule Charging Station provides stationary charging in 700- and 1,400-kW configurations.
Another small-road example is Palmetto Railways’ (PR) partnership with Innovative Rail Technologies (IRT) to convert two diesel-electric switchers to lithium-ion BE power. PR received a $4.17 million CRISI grant and is providing a 35% non-federal match. The conversion is expected to reduce diesel fuel consumption by an estimated 40,000 gallons annually per locomotive and help maximize cleaner, more energy efficient shipments through the railroad’s existing North Charleston facilities and support the Navy Base Intermodal Facility currently under construction with South Carolina Ports Authority. IRT, which describes itself as “a rail solutions provider that offers proprietary propulsion technology,” will retrofit the locomotives with its proprietary ATLAS (Advanced Technology Lithium-Ion Adaptive System) technology, a “turnkey, scalable propulsion and control package. Paired with automated, high-speed charging, IRT’s ATLAS-powered locomotives maintain 24/7 availability for operators in an economically beneficial package.”
Hydrogen is another option for short lines. However, the greatest downside is the cost, Myers notes. This is because fueling infrastructure is limited. OptiFuel is building a hydrogen-powered switcher for Sierra Northern Railway (SNR, owned by Sierra Railroad Company, the principal owner of Sierra Energy Corp., which has developed a proprietary waste-to-clean hydrogen technology). OptiFuel also built a natural gas-powered unit for the Indiana Harbor Belt (IHB). SNR President and CEO Ken Beard echoed Myers’ sentiments, saying hydrogen’s high cost is limiting the rail industry from building affordable hydrogen-powered locomotives. “The biggest hurdle in the industry is finding low-cost hydrogen supply,” he said. “Right now, the cost of hydrogen is astronomical. There’s just not enough out there. We’re looking at paying $50 a kilogram for hydrogen. It needs to be less than $10 a kilogram to be cost-competitive against diesel.
Modular Approach
As OptiFuel was deciding what kinds of alternative-powered locomotives to build, it looked at Watco’s choice of using two BE locomotives to replace one diesel unit, according to Manager Cynthia Heinz. “When our engineering team was trying to decide on our recommended flagship locomotive, we said probably not battery, with two locomotives required to do the same work as one diesel. If there’s a better way, let’s see if we can achieve it better.”
OptiFuel gleaned from its experience building dual-fuel locomotives for the IHB and explored advanced dual-fuel technology. “The dual-fuel locomotives we’re building today are a bit different,” said Heinz. “Understanding the differences is important. In the first four dual-fuel locomotives, we used a single engine. But now we use multiple, smaller engines The question was, if we wanted to achieve this outcome where a locomotive was significantly less expensive to run, has higher reliability and uptime with flexibility for future changes, ease of re-fueling and where you could achieve zero emissions, a couple of things happened. We went into this modular approach. We use smaller engines that are not only more efficient but help us cut down on emissions.”
A railroad may choose to run a 100% diesel locomotive, which OptiFuel has developed to produce lower NOx emissions and PM (particulate matter) or could replace a module with one that uses renewable natural gas to lower GHG. “We considered what would make it easier,” Heinz noted. “It’s familiar technology. A hydrogen fuel cell is complex and expensive. We also can remove a module from one locomotive and install it in another. We can replace an HFC module with a dual-fuel module. We realized that short lines need to have reliability as well as assistance reducing emissions and cost. We thought, we’ll do this for the price of a diesel locomotive and achieve better outcomes.” The HFC locomotive OptiFuel is building for SNR utilizes this modular approach.
“Technology is rapidly changing,” said Heinz. “If we can’t update our locomotives but once every 40 years, we’re in trouble.” Using a modular approach, “we can cost-effectively upgrade anything to the next technology.”
California’s Role
One of the major factors contributing to the exploration of alternative-fuel locomotives was CARB’s push toward zero-or lower-emissions locomotives. But just this past January, CARB scrapped its plans calling for zero-emissions locomotive configurations in the state starting as early as 2030. However, that regulatory change isn’t stopping SNR, according to Ken Beard. “We started chasing zero emissions prior to CARB’s announcement several years ago. We’re just continuing what we started, and ours was all in the HFC world,” he said. Beard estimated that his railroad’s hydrogen locomotive will go into operation next month. “We fully anticipate that CARB, if the [White House] Administration changes four years from now, is going to make another swing at it,” Beard said. “So, that doesn’t mean we can keep our head in the sand. We’ve got to keep moving forward.”
SNR’s plan to build and use an HFC locomotive began in 2017 when it was awarded an initial state grant for the project. It abandoned that grant because it “came with too many strings attached,” Beard said. But the railroad received another state grant in 2021, which is helping it develop the locomotive.
SNR’s first HFC locomotive will operate at the Port of West Sacramento, per grant award guidelines. The next three locomotives will initially run in Sacramento but could eventually move to other portions of the railway’s network, such as in the Central Valley on the Oakdale line or in Southern California on the Ventura line. But the operational plans for these three locomotives are still tentative, Beard said. SNR isn’t building any specific infrastructure for the hydrogen locomotives; rather, they will be fueled from a hydrogen tank truck. That said, the railway could one day have a hydrogen fueling station on site.
Indeed, the company in February announced it acquired the assets of locomotive manufacturer RailPower LLC as part of its broader plan to build additional hydrogen-powered units. RailPower, which has been the short line company’s partner on a project to convert diesel switchers to hydrogen-powered zero emission units, “has a strong legacy, having produced approximately 190 locomotives, including 55 GG20B hybrid switchers, 116 RP20BD genset locomotives, and other models like the GG10B, GK10B, RP14BD, and RP20SD,” said SNR. The company said it is “poised to integrate RailPower’s hybrid innovations with its hydrogen expertise,” and plans to build hydrogen locomotives on RailPower’s platform, “initially targeting the 260 locomotives used by short line railroads in California.”
SNR began its hydrogen-powered switcher program in 2021, when it was awarded nearly $4 million from the California Energy Commission to retire an older EPA Tier 0 diesel-powered switcher and replace it with an (HFC). In 2023, the company landed a $15.6 million grant from the California State Transportation Authority (CalSTA) to convert three additional diesel switchers to HFC. Both the California Energy Commission and the CalSTA projects “involve the integration of an advanced hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen storage, advanced battery and systems control technologies to provide an alternative to less environmentally friendly diesel-powered locomotives.” CalSTA noted in 2023 that its funding was slated to “refine SNR’s hydrogen (H2) locomotive technology in furtherance of its desire to convert 50% of its own locomotives to H2 technology in the next decade, while simultaneously commercializing the technology and encouraging other short lines to do the same.”
In addition to RailPower, SNR has been teaming with the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, Ballard Power Systems; Velocity Strategies; Gas Technology Institute; WHA International; UC Riverside, College of Engineering–Center for Environmental Research and Technology; and Valley Vision on its program.
As SNR readies its first hydrogen-powered locomotive, Beard noted he’s been fielding calls from Canada, Europe, and across the U.S. “We stay in contact,” he said. “We talk about best practices. Nobody is sharing their trade secrets on exactly what they’re doing. They know what fuel cell I’m using, but they don’t know how I set it up and they know what we’re doing here.” European colleagues want to talk with Beard about using hydrogen locomotives for passenger rail. “It’s very similar,” he said. “We handle more weight and go slow. They handle less weight and go fast. Can you hold enough energy on board to do the work you need? That’s why CPKC’s line-haul unit has [an Hgmotive
] tender. They’ve got a tender with hydrogen tanks, and it must be hauled everywhere. Ours doesn’t, but ours isn’t made to go thousands of miles. It’s made to go 10 or 20 miles in a switching environment.”
FURTHER READING
Engines of Change
The Clock is Ticking: Railroads and the Net-Zero 2050 Goal
Next-Gen Motive Power
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