Local train line gets cleaner locomotive
By Barry Eberling | DAILY REPUBLIC | August 27, 2009
Ed Lynch, a conductor with California Northern Railroad Co., stands on the company's new low emissions train engine before a demonstration run Thursday evening in American Canyon. Photo by Brad Zweerink
FAIRFIELD - The California Northern Railroad locomotive that passes by the houses and businesses of Cordelia and near Old Town Suisun City is creating a lot less pollution these days.
Gone is a green-colored locomotive that put out a cloud of smoke. The small railroad has a new, $1.6 million, red-white-and-blue locomotive that is green in the environmental sense. It cuts pollution by about 80 percent and can be 30 percent more fuel efficient.
'We want to be proactive in the new technology that's out there,' California Northern Trainmaster Jon Kerruish said Thursday. 'We want to save the environment as much as we can. We want to do our part.'
People living and working near the tracks will get a breath of fresher air.
Train smoke contains small particles that can get caught in the lungs, possibly causing respiratory problems. The new locomotive will reduce this pollution by about five tons a year, said Ralph Borrmann of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
'The people who live close by will experience a significant difference in particulate pollution,' Borrmann said. 'These are very clean engines.'
Eighty percent of the cost for the new locomotive came from a BAAQMD grant. The new locomotive replaces one that dates back to the 1970s.
California Northern's local branch is about 25 miles long and is based in American Canyon. It is what's called a short line, taking products between manufacturers and customers and the main Union Pacific freight line that passes through Suisun City.
'The people who live close by will experience a significant difference in particulate pollution,' Borrmann said. 'These are very clean engines.'
Eighty percent of the cost for the new locomotive came from a BAAQMD grant. The new locomotive replaces one that dates back to the 1970s.
California Northern's local branch is about 25 miles long and is based in American Canyon. It is what's called a short line, taking products between manufacturers and customers and the main Union Pacific freight line that passes through Suisun City.
See the complete story at the Daily Republic online.
