Cleaner trains to roll on Solano County rails

Cleaner trains to roll on Solano County rails
Times-Herald staff report
Posted: 08/14/2009

Bay Area air-quality officials are investing in lower-emission locomotives for Amtrak trains stopping in Solano County and elsewhere.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District contributed $500,000 to a recently unveiled, lower-polluting locomotive, and has allocated $2.6 million more to Caltrans for five more locomotive retrofits, district officials said in a release.

The upgraded locomotive has begun operating between Sacramento and the Bay Area along the Capitol Corridor route, which stops in Suisun City.

"The air district has a long history of reducing toxic diesel exhaust through a combination of incentives, grants, and regulatory controls," Solano County Supervisor Jim Spering said. "Cleaner locomotive technology can protect Bay Area residents from harmful air pollution and lower the region's carbon footprint."

Suisun City is in Spering's district.

The air district joined with nine state, regional and private partners to help Amtrak upgrade its diesel locomotive fleet.