Air Quality

Rail service plays a beneficial role in reducing air pollution emissions, helping urban areas meet air quality standards.  Amtrak produces far less carbon monoxide (CO) than aircraft or automobiles.  According to the October 1994 Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project - Electrification- New Haven, CT to Boston, MA, electrification of rail passenger service in the Northeast Corridor from New Haven to Boston, is expected to further reduce CO emissions by five percent.  Volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions (two ozone precursors) will be reduced by five percent and fifteen percent, respectively, as a result of diversion from other modes and the switch from diesel power to electric power.  Commuters taking electrified rail passenger trains to work instead of single occupancy vehicles can reduce the NOx contribution to urban smog.

Very few comprehensive studies of freight emissions have been conducted.  Emissions produced by moving freight can vary widely depending upon a variety of operational and logistical factors, such as miles of travel, engine efficiency, and fuel use.  For decision-making purposes, comparisons of rail and truck emissions should be made on a case-by-case basis, using the particular facts and circumstances of the freight movement being modeled. Calculations based on 1993 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emission data indicate that trucks emit more NOx, VOC, diesel particulates, and CO than rail to move the same amount of freight.  Railroads are working closely with major locomotive manufacturers to develop advanced diesel technology (electronic fuel injection and enhanced turbo-charged air cooling) and alternative fuel engines to produce even fewer emissions.

Additionally, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Draft Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990 - 1999" (January 2001) indicates transportation activities accounted for an almost constant 26 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 1999.  These emissions were primarily carbon dioxide (CO2) from fuel combustion, which increased by 13 percent from 1990 to 1999.  Rail and marine transportation combined contributed the least amount of  the transportation sectors CO2 emissions.

In order to better understand the air quality implications of intercity freight operations and potential emission control strategies, FRA, FHWA, and EPA jointly sponsored a study, Air Quality Issues in Intercity Freight, conducted by Cambridge Systematics, Inc.  (See FRA's web site, at http://www.fra.dot.gov/ under Policy Studies).The study, completed in 1997, identified tools and methods that can assist metropolitan and state planners in developing credible plans and analyses of freight emission reduction strategies in air quality non-attainment areas.

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) has completed the first phase of its study, Development of a Multimodal Framework for Freight Transportation Investment: Consideration of Rail and Highway Trade-Offs.  This research, performed by the Texas Transportation Institute, evaluates examples of transportation investment alternatives, focusing on rail-highway trade-offs in state rail program activities.  While the focus is on direct costs, indirect costs, such as economic impacts, energy use, productivity, air quality, and safety impacts, are also  considered.  The continuation project 20-29 (02), Development of a Computer Model for Multimodal, Multicriteria Transportation Investment Analysis, will assist state and local planners  in making alternative modal investment decisions.  The software will be available in late 2001.  Contact Adrienne Archer at TRB, 202/334-3237  for information on these unpublished studies.

Transportation Research Boards Special Report #246, Paying Our Way: Estimating Marginal Social Costs of Freight Transportation, published in 1996, uses four case studies to explore the potential usefulness and feasibility of a comprehensive study of freight transportation to measure the subsidies provided to the freight modes and the external costs of freight transportation, such as air pollution, congestion, safety, and energy consumption.  The study is available for $16.00 from the TRB bookstore at http://www.nationalacademies.org/trb/bookstore/.

Noise

EPA has issued noise standards for the operation of locomotives and rail cars under moving conditions, as well as for four major rail yard noise sources:  locomotive load cell test stands, switcher locomotives, car coupling operations, and retarders.  Of interest to communities, the sounding of locomotive horns or whistles in advance of highway-rail grade crossings has been used as a universal safety precaution by railroads since the late 1800s.  Since that time, in some locations across the United States, Whistle Bans have been established by local ordinance or through agreements with particular railroads.

However, studies have shown that highway-rail incidents are 62 percent more likely to occur at grade crossings where train horns are not sounded.  In response to a law enacted by Congress in 1996, FRA has written a proposed rule requiring that train horns be sounded when a train approaches and enters a public highway-rail grade crossing unless certain exceptions are met to establish a quiet zone.  Where grade crossings are eliminated or grade-separated, there will no longer be a train whistle issue.  The proposed rule describes the safety measures that a community may employ to establish a quiet zone and yet deter drivers from taking risks at crossings.  For additional information, see FRA's web site at: http://www.fra.dot.govhttp://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/95 .