CARB Adopts New In-Use Locomotive Regulations
CARB Adopts New In-Use Locomotive Regulations
On April 27, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) passed a new rule targeted at reducing emissions from in-use locomotives operating within the confines of the state of California. The regulation requires operators to pay into a spending account, and the amount paid in will be directly determined by the emissions they produce while operating in California. Further rules require that all locomotives must be less than 23 years old and that locomotives cannot idle in California for more than 30 minutes. According to Dieselnet.com, during the board meeting, CARB representatives stated that manufacturers are now producing hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric locomotives and zero-emission trains in Europe. However, that technology is only being employed in lightweight passenger trains. At the present time, there are no battery electric or hydrogen fueled locomotives in commercial status of the size and power required for North American freight operations…
