Two Class Is, three short lines to pilot promising new carbon-capture system

By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor

Several Class Is and short lines are firming up plans to test a newly developed carbon-capture system with locomotives to help ratchet up their sustainability efforts. 

Norfolk Southern Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, two Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) short lines and Anacostia Rail Holdings’ Pacific Harbor Line Inc. (PHL) expect to pilot a technology developed by start-up company Remora that’s designed to capture up to 90% of CO₂ emissions from locomotives. 

The carbon-capture system — which also can reduce soot along with particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions — is installed in a tender car positioned behind a locomotive. Locomotive exhaust enters a containment system that filters and stores the CO₂ as a liquid that more easily can be offloaded when the locomotive refuels. 

The system is targeted at both locomotives and 18-wheel trucks. Remora ultimately aims to extract, purify and sell carbon dioxide generated from vehicle exhaust, said Paul Gross, the Detroit-based company’s co-founder and CEO, in an email. 

The CO₂ that’s offloaded from locomotives and trucks will be sold to various parties — such as chemical, concrete and fuel and producers — and the revenue generated will be shared with the participating fleet operators, according to Remora. 

The company aims to eventually deploy its system on thousands of locomotives and trucks. In addition to the Class Is and short lines, the company has partnered with Ryder and Werner to test the system on trucks. 

UP is on pace to become the first Class I to pilot the carbon-capture system, said UP spokesperson Kristen South in an email. The Class I is still determining when tests will start and how many locomotives will be involved in the pilot. 

The “groundbreaking locomotive exhaust carbon-capture technology” will help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, South said. 

“While rail is already the most environmentally responsible way to move freight over land, this collaboration underscores our ongoing commitment to advancing sustainable solutions,” she said. 

At NS, the first pilot tests of the carbon-capture system are slated to start by late summer. Depending on results, deployment could begin in mid-2026, NS officials said in an online post. 

“The project will help us achieve our sustainability targets, including a 42% reduction in scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2034,” they said. 

Short lines to size up system, too
Meanwhile, G&W also is anticipating sustainability gains by piloting the system on locomotives operated by its Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad and Indiana and Ohio Railway subsidiaries. The company plans to test the system with five locomotives at each short line starting at some point next year, says G&W spokesman Tom Ciuba. 

Anacostia also aims to eventually start piloting the system. The tests will be performed by PHL, which owns 25 locomotives and operates at the major ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, where emission regulations are very strict. 

Anacostia — which owns six short lines — has for years explored various technologies designed to reduce emissions. But many of them have limitations, such as hydrogen and battery power for locomotives, says Ancostia President and CEO Peter Gilbertson. 

Remora’s system is a potentially more effective technology because it addresses existing locomotives, which for many short lines are Tier 0, 1 or 2 units that don’t control as many emissions as a Tier 4 or more modern unit, he says. 

“The system is interesting because it can work on the installed base of locomotives,” says Gilbertson. 

Anacostia has signed a development agreement with Remora to pilot the system at PHL, but no timetable has been set yet. Remora has acquired a 1994 GE locomotive to first perform its own rail application tests and continues to develop the tender car. The company’s research so far has shown the system achieved 90% capture efficiency from a diesel truck engine. 

Once the piloting begins at the various railroads, the tests should last about six months, said Gross. The goal: To show the system can reduce criteria pollutant emissions, and extract and purify the CO₂ from a locomotive's exhaust, he said. 

“Most importantly, we want to show that this works safely and seamlessly in railroad operations,” Gross stressed. 

By 2030, Remora plans to produce 500 of the carbon-capture systems annually. 

“We plan to start ramping up production toward the end of next year,” said Gross.