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A newly retooled CSX locomotive will significantly reduce emissions of air pollutants in the Baltimore area.
The locomotive, being put to work in CSX’s Curtis Bay switchyard, swapped its diesel engine for three smaller, cleaner engines that can be used separately or together as needed. The more efficient “GenSet” locomotive – the first of its kind in Maryland – conserves fuel and reduces carbon emissions. At the same time, it emits less soot and nitrous oxide, an ozone-causing pollutant.
The $1.4 million project, paid for in part by an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, also retained jobs.
MDE Secretary Shari T. Wilson praised the project at its unveiling Oct. 26 at the Camden Yards MARC station.
“While Maryland’s air is the cleanest it has been since the Clean Air Act passed, we still need to do more,” Secretary Wilson said. “Repowering this CSX locomotive with cleaner engines reduces emissions of particulate matter, or soot, by 80 percent – technology upgrades create and retain jobs and improve air quality.”
Gina McCarthy, EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, also applauded the project, noting that every dollar invested in such technology returns $13 in public health benefits.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Air Management Association (MARAMA) obtained an EPA grant that covered 65 percent of the project. That grant was among more than $4 million in grants for clean air projects across the state that MARAMA obtained.
EPA is partnering with CSX on a second GenSet locomotive to be operated in the Baltimore area. The Maryland Department of Transportation submitted the application for $975,000 in EPA Diesel Emissions Reduction Act funds on behalf of CSX, which will provide $425,000 in private funding.
GenSet locomotives reduce nitrous oxide emissions by about 80 percent and can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent.
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