Restored steam locomotive could signal new era for clean train travel

A steam locomotive has been restored by a Minnesota based collaboration which could signal a new era for clean rail travel.

The locomotive has been developed in collaboration between the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment (IonE) and the nonprofit Sustainable Rail International (SRI), who have recently unveiled plans for their new biofuel powered, carbon-neutral locomotive.

As the UK parliament discuss plans for a new technologically advanced high speed rail network that has been touted as the future of clean travel, researchers in America are taking a step back in time, and have instead applied their biofuel analysis to aged steam locomotives. Although the plans are unlikely to ever supersede HSR projects in Britain, they could prove useful in developing nations, where a reliance on carbon-heavy transport means that pollution is escalating.

The Coalition for Sustainable Rail (CSR) plans will make use of biocoal, which is torrefied biomass created through "an energy-efficient processing" of cellulosic biomass, as the fuel source.According to the group, the coal is effectively carbon neutral, particularly compared to regular coal, and it produces less ash, smoke and volatile off-gases.

CSR Project 130 has set out with two primary objectives; the first is to produce the world's cleanest locomotive and prove the viability to solid biofuel, and the second is to prove the power of solid biofuel, especially when compared to the diesel electrics commonly in use today. They hope to do this by building a locomotive that will break the world record for steam locomotive speed, which is currently 126 MPH.

SRI President Davidson Ward said in a statement:"This project presents a novel approach to U.S. locomotive development, looking to technologies of the past to inspire solutions for today's sustainability challenge.

"I'm confident that the leading energy researchers we're working with at the University of Minnesota, along with our team of engineers, will be able to bring this technology to the forefront of America's energy and transportation conversations."

Posted by Claire Manning