Sierra Northern Railway Successfully Tests First, Four Axle Hydrogen Fueled Zero Emission Switching Locomotive

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Sierra Northern Railway (SERA) announced today at the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) conference in Denver, Colorado, that it successfully completed testing of the first four-axle hydrogen-fueled, zero-emission switching locomotive on March 27, 2025, in West Sacramento, California.

Kennan H. Beard III, President of Sierra Northern Railway, stated, "This accomplishment marks another major milestone in Sierra's mission to bring Hydrogen Powered Zero Emission Switcher Locomotives within commercial reach for the short line industry. Both in California and around the world."

The demonstration of this Hydrogen Powered Zero Emission Switcher Locomotive was funded through a $4,000,000 grant to fund the design, integration, and demonstration of a hydrogen fuel cell switching locomotive from the California Energy Commission (CEC) and administered through GTI Energy.

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"Sierra's successful test proves that short lines can retire pre-tier 0 to tier 4 diesel locomotives and replace them with a Hydrogen Powered Zero Emission Switcher Locomotives using our advanced hydrogen powered units," said Beard.

Demonstration and validation of Sierra Northern Railway’s Hydrogen Powered Zero Emission Switcher Locomotive establishes a platform for widespread commercialization in the immediate future. Short line and switching locomotives account for a significant share of the total locomotive energy use within the State of California as they carry a significant portion of freight in California and operate on the first and last miles of the national freight network. This makes short-line operations an excellent testbed for the demonstration of zero-emission technologies and a key to decarbonizing transportation emissions.

Video of this historic event can be found on the Sierra Northern Railway website.

This demonstration will start to facilitate the improvement of local air quality, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, noise, and odor for the communities that have a short line in their community. Most switcher locomotives in California use an average of approximately 50,000 gallons per year per switcher, potentially leading to a reduction of more than 12 million gallons of diesel per year. This is approximately equivalent to the same amount of fuel used each year by 20,000 light-duty vehicles.

"Sierra Northern Railway is proud that we will continue to lead the industry with low emission switching solutions as we continue to demonstrate that Sierra has achieved what the industry needs to convert to zero emission by integrating advanced hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen storage, advanced battery and systems control technologies to provide an alternative to less environmentally friendly diesel-powered locomotives," stated Beard.

In addition to the funds received by the California Energy Commission, Sierra's funding partners include: Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, SoCalGas, and the Low Carbon Resource Initiative.

Project Partners include: GTI Energy, Velocity Strategies, Railpower Tech, WHA International, Inc., OptiFuel Systems, Ballard Power Systems, UC Riverside, and Valley Vision.

Next Actions for Sierra Northern Railway

Sierra Northern Railway has already started the process to build three additional zero emission hydrogen fueled switching locomotives from funding it was awarded from the State of California, California State Transportation Agency, Port and Freight Infrastructure Project Funding, through a public-private partnership with the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.

The total project cost will be approximately $19,500,000 to expand on its current efforts by developing, demonstrating, and testing three additional hydrogen-fueled, zero-emissions switcher locomotives. The testing will be conducted on the soon to be constructed test track in Sierra’s West Sacramento rail yard.

When this project is completed in quarter four of 2027, it will expand Sierra’s Hydrogen Zero Emission Switching Locomotive Fleet to a total of four locomotives and will help Sierra lead the way to eventually convert the entire Sierra fleet to hydrogen powered zero-emission switchers—as well as all 260+ switchers in California—to a Sierra Hydrogen Powered Zero Emission Switcher Locomotive.

About Sierra Northern Railway

Sierra Northern Railway is the freight division of privately owned, Sierra Railroad Company. Sierra Railroad Company is also the principal owner of Sierra Energy Corporation, which has developed a proprietary waste-to-clean hydrogen technology: FastOx® gasification. Sierra Northern Railway currently operates approximately 75 miles of track in Northern California and 30 miles in Southern California through the heart of a number of the Golden State's prime industrial areas, serving a wide variety of customers, and interchanging with both BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad. http://sierranorthern.com