Battery- and hydrogen fuel cell-powered trains are among the rail industry’s only viable options for reducing greenhouse gases. Every battery locomotive that replaces a diesel will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3,000 tons per year, Wabtec estimates.
But it is unlikely they can quickly replace diesel-powered trains. U.S. freight railroads are awash in surplus locomotives and nobody can predict what battery-operated systems will cost, compared with existing $3-million diesels.
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