California State Rail Plan 2005-06 to 2015-16

Chapter XVIII – Environmental Review
higher. Normalizing this data through ton-miles transported provides a
comparable emission value per efficiency between modes. On a ton-mile basis,
locomotives generate from one-third to one-twelfth the emissions of heavy diesel
trucks.
EMISSION STANDARDS FOR RAIL VEHICLES
Smoke emissions from newly manufactured and remanufactured diesel-powered
locomotives and locomotive engines, which had previously been unregulated have
been made subject to Federal standards. 31
The new standards result in nearly a two-thirds reduction in NOx emissions and
nearly half the HC and PM emissions nationwide. This equates to a 304,000 ton
NOx emission reduction in 2005, equivalent to removing nearly 20 million cars
from the road. Because NOx contributes to the reduction of secondary PM, the
new standards result in a reduction of 12,000 tons per year of PM. 32
The EPA estimates that the lifetime cost per locomotive will be approximately
$70,000 for the Tier 0 standards, $186,000 for the Tier 1 standards and $252,000
for Tier 2 standards. Lifetime cost components consist of initial equipment costs;
remanufacturing costs; fuel economy costs; and certification, production line and
in-use testing costs. The average annual cost of this program is estimated to be
$80 million. This would be about 0.2 percent of the total freight revenue for
railroads in 1995. The average cost-effectiveness of the standards is expected to
be about $163 per ton of NOx, PM and HC. 33
Due to by the interstate nature of railroads, the EPA-adopted regulations preempt
certain local and state requirements for controlling locomotive emissions.
ENFORCEMENT
The EPA rules established an enforcement regime including individual
locomotive/engine certification, requirements for maintenance records for actions
that might impact emission performance, and an annual fleet testing program to
monitor the in-use emissions. Short line railroads are exempt from EPA
locomotive standards by virtue of being small businesses with less than
500 employees.
The California ARB entered into a memorandum of mutual understandings and
agreements with BNSF and UP to establish the South Coast Locomotives
Program. The agreement sets a series of fleet performance measures that will
“result in 100 percent replacement with the lower-emitting locomotives over
31 Technical Highlights, Emission Factors for Locomotives, US EPA EPA420-F-97-051, December 1997
32 ibid
33 Regulatory Announcement – Final Emissions Standards for Locomotives, US EPA EPA420-F-97-048, December
1997
213