(The following article by Katherine Yung was posted on the Dallas Morning News website on March 7.)
DALLAS, Texas — Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., the country’s second-largest freight railroad, announced new efforts Tuesday to reduce emissions from its diesel locomotives.
The Fort Worth-based railroad made the announcement just days after the Environmental Protection Agency proposed stringent new emissions standards for diesel locomotives, which spew soot and nitrogren oxides, a key ingredient in smog.
Fort Worth-based Burlington Northern is adding 14 ultra-low-emission locomotives made by National Railway Equipment to its Houston and Dallas rail yards.
“It’s very important that railroads reduce emissions so that we all have cleaner air,” said Mark Stehly, Burlington Northern’s assistant vice president of environment and research development. “We will work with the EPA to make sure the regulations … can be achieved. We are supportive of it.”
Thanks in part to state grants, the railroad is adding 14 ultra-low-emission locomotives made by National Railway Equipment Co. for its rail yards in Houston and the Dallas area. It’s planning to buy 50 more.
The locomotives, which cost about $1.4 million each, discharge only 10 percent to 20 percent as much pollution as regular locomotives. They’re up to 20 percent more fuel-efficient, which will save the railroad money.
But they lack the horsepower necessary to haul freight over long distances.
For these kinds of trips, Burlington Northern is buying 200 of the new Evolution Series locomotives made by General Electric Co. It has already added 600 to its fleet.
At a cost of $2 million each, these are the lowest-polluting long-haul locomotives in the U.S., Mr. Stehly said. They generate only a third as much nitrogen oxide as regular locomotives, but that won’t be enough to meet the proposed new EPA standards.
Burlington Northern will need to modify the engines and eventually add devices to clean their exhaust.
The railroad has been retrofitting its locomotives that were built after 1973 with kits that reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by a third.
About 2,000 locomotives have undergone the retrofitting, with 2,000 more to go. Burlington Northern maintains a fleet of 6,600 locomotives.