Sierra Northern Railway (SERA) has announced that it has completed testing of the first four-axle hydrogen-fuelled, zero-emission switching locomotive on 27 March 2025, in West Sacramento, California, US.
Kennan H. Beard III, President of SERA, stated: “This accomplishment marks another major milestone in SERA’s mission to bring hydrogen powered zero emission switcher locomotives within commercial reach for the short line industry.”
The demonstration of this hydrogen powered zero emission switcher locomotive was funded through a US$4 million 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.
“SERA’s 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 hydrogen powered units,” added Kennan H. Beard III.
Demonstration and validation of SERA’s hydrogen powered zero emission switcher locomotive establishes a platform for widespread commercialisation in the immediate future. Short line and switching locomotives account for a significant share of the total locomotive energy use within the California, US, as they carry a significant portion of freight and operate on the first and last miles of the national freight network. This makes short-line operations a good testbed for the demonstration of zero-emission technologies and key to decarbonising transportation emissions.
This demonstration will start to facilitate the improvement of local air quality, a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, noise, and odour for the communities that have a short line in their community. Most switcher locomotives in California, US, use an average of approximately 50 000 gal./y per switcher, potentially leading to a reduction of more than 12 million gal./y of diesel. This is approximately equivalent to the same amount of fuel used each year by 20 000 light-duty vehicles.
“SERA is proud to provide low emission switching solutions as we continue to demonstrate what the industry needs to convert to zero emission by integrating hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen storage, battery, and systems control technologies to provide environmentally friendly locomotives,” commented Kennan H. Beard III.
Next actions for SERA
SERA has already started the process to build three additional zero emission hydrogen fuelled switching locomotive 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 US$19.5 million to expand on its current efforts by developing, demonstrating, and testing three additional hydrogen-fuelled, zero-emissions switcher locomotives. The testing will be conducted on a soon to be constructed test track in SERA’s West Sacramento, US, rail yard. When this project is completed in 4Q27, it will expand the SERA’s hydrogen fleet to a total of four locomotives and will help SERA to eventually convert the entire SERA fleet to hydrogen powered zero-emission switchers, as well as all over 260 switchers in California, US, to a SERA hydrogen powered zero emission switcher locomotive.