EPA Sets Emissions Standards for Trains, Ships
Railroad locomotive engines and marine vessels will be subject to new clean air standards that would sharply reduce particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions, the Environmental Protection Agency said Friday.
Soot in exhaust from new and rebuilt train and marine engines will have to be cut by about 90%, and nitrogen oxide output must be trimmed by about 80%, EPA said.
Phasing in tighter long-term standards for PM and NOx will begin in 2014 for marine diesel engines and in 2015 for train engines. Advanced aftertreatment technology will apply to both types of engines.
“EPA is fitting another important piece into the clean diesel puzzle by cleaning emissions from our trains and boats,” Administrator Stephen Johnson said in a statement.
For the first time ever, the rule remanufacturing standards for marine engines, reductions in engine idling, and the use of after treatment technology that will further reduce diesel emissions, EPA said.
The standards will take effect in stages, from as soon as this year for rebuilt engines to 2015 for some new locomotives from GE and other manufacturers, the EPA said. Also covered are marine engines for Great Lakes freighters and large leisure boats, the EPA said.
The Association of American Railroads, a trade group for rail lines, said it supports the rule, while environmental-advocacy group Clean Air Watch said new standards should have been adopted sooner, Bloomberg reported.
