Environment
Tacoma Rail works to reduce the environmental impact of our work. We use practices and technology that help us use less fuel and energy, cut emissions and reduce other impacts from freight service. We also look for ways to make our daily work and projects more efficient and environmentally responsible.
How we reduce our impact
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We use idle reduction technology on all of our diesel locomotives to reduce the amount of time engines run when they are not moving.
The technology can automatically shut down a locomotive when it is not in use while keeping it ready to restart. This helps reduce fuel use, emissions, noise and engine wear.
On four of our initial locomotives equipped with this technology, idle time was reduced by as much as 90%.
Over five years, these four locomotives:
- Saved 400,000 gallons of diesel fuel
- Reduced fine particulate matter by 3 tons
- Reduced nitrogen oxides by 140 tons
- Reduced carbon monoxide by 15 tons
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Tacoma Rail switched to ultra-low sulfur diesel in June 2006, six years before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) required it for all locomotives.
Ultra-low sulfur diesel contains 15 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur, compared with 500 in regular diesel fuel.
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In late 2011, Tacoma Rail acquired two EMD GP-22eco 2,000 horsepower locomotives. The locomotives were repowered with new engines and other components to meet EPA Tier 2 diesel emission standards and provide more modern systems.
These two units, numbered 2200 and 2201, were assembled in Tacoma at Progress Rail.
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In November 2005, Tacoma Rail installed Eco-Tip super-stack fuel injectors on its locomotive fleet. The injectors provided:
- 3% fuel savings at full load
- 44% reduction in fine particle pollution
- 75% reduction in visible smoke