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California refuses to restrict use of diesel locomotives

27 January 2025
Reading time ~ 2 min
A freight train with a SD70M diesel-electric locomotive from the Union Pacific fleet
A freight train with a SD70M diesel-electric locomotive from the Union Pacific fleet. Source: Wes Greer/flickr
Savenkova Ekaterina, Editorial Contributor to International Projects of ROLLINGSTOCK Agency
Reading time ~ 2 min
Stolchnev Alexey, Russian Projects Editor, ROLLINGSTOCK Agency

USA: The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has rescinded the In-Use Locomotive Regulation. This is a rule that would have banned diesel locomotives that are 23 years or older from operating in California from 2030.

Liane Randolph, chair of CARB, attributes the decision to the uncertainty over the position of the Trump administration, which has previously been critical of the state’s climate programmes. Following his return to the US presidency, Donald Trump signed a package of executive orders. One of them is to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change. The agreement is a key document under which countries have implemented policies to reduce CO2 emissions, including incentives to move away from diesel.

The In-Use Locomotive Regulation was adopted in 2023 and only needed federal approval. It provoked fierce criticism from the rail industry, and the Association of American Railroads and the American Short Line and Railroad Association went so far as to file a lawsuit against CARB seeking its repeal. They stated that its adoption would result in the premature retirement of some 25,000 diesel locomotives across the country. All this in the face of ongoing testing and low availability of alternative traction solutions.

Today, California is a leader in the transition to new traction solutions under the federal programme Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements. The programme focuses on the use of diesel traction, which meet more stringent environmental standards, and to a lesser extent on the transition to alternative traction solutions such as batteries, hydrogen, etc.

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