Sierra Northern Railway (SERA) has successfully completed testing of the first four-axle hydrogen shunting locomotive on March 27, 2025, in West Sacramento, California.
The announcement was made on April 8, 2025, at the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) conference in Denver, Colorado.
“This accomplishment marks another major milestone in Sierra’s mission to bring hydrogen powered zero emission shunting locomotives within commercial reach for the short line industry. Both in California and around the world,” Kennan H. Beard III, the President of Sierra Northern Railway said.
The project has been funded through a USD 4 million grant for the design, integration, and demonstration of a hydrogen fuel cell shunting locomotive from the California Energy Commission (CEC) and administered through GTI Energy.
“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 shunting locomotives using our advanced hydrogen powered units,” Beard said.
The demonstration and validation of company’s first four-axle hydrogen shunting locomotive establishes a platform for widespread commercialisation in the immediate future. Short line and shunting locomotives account for a significant share of the total locomotive energy use within the State of California as they carry a significant share 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 testing the zero-emission technologies and a key to decarbonising transport emissions.
The tests 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 shunting locomotives in California use an average of approximately 50,000 gallons (66 tonnes) per year per vehicle, potentially leading to a reduction of more than 12 million gallons (around 16,000 tonnes) 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 has already started the process to build three additional zero emission hydrogen fueled shunting 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 USD 19.5 million to expand on its current efforts by developing, demonstrating, and testing the three locomotives. The testing will be conducted 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 the Sierra’s hydrogen shunting locomotive fleet to a total of 4 units and will help Sierra lead the way to eventually convert the entire Sierra fleet to hydrogen powered shunters as well as all 260+ shunting vehicles in California.
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