Rail and Ferry Operators Lean Into Opportunities to Reduce and Eliminate Emissions
By Jacob Herson
Managing Editor
Transit California
Weeks before Earth Day 2022, the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a troubling assessment of the world’s progress on combatting climate change. According to Jim Skea, co-chair of the group that produced the report, it’s “now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5°C.” To avoid a catastrophic climate future, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must peak within three years and be almost halved by 2030, according to the report.
In California, the transportation sector accounts for the largest share of emissions at 40 percent. The state has mandated that transit agencies shift to zero-emission bus (ZEB) fleets by 2040. Many agencies are targeting 2035 or 2030, and manufacturers continue to advance the necessary technology.
ZEBs are not the whole story, however; zero-emission transportation is an ever-expanding landscape, including both rail and ferries. Agencies are leaning into the current opportunities to expand their zero-emission operations — and looking for additional support so they can lean in harder.
In southern California, Metrolink has evolved from a commuter rail service to a regional passenger rail service with 62 stations and 538 route-miles. “While Metrolink is focused on reducing locomotive emissions to improve air quality for the region, the greater impact we have is the service we provide,” said Chief Executive Officer Darren Kettle. “When customers choose to leave their car behind and ride the train, vehicular emissions are avoided.” The agency reports that its riders in 2019 (before the impacts of the pandemic) avoided 340 million vehicle miles traveled (VMTs), equivalent to reducing GHG emissions by 130,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. 
“Los Angeles consistently ranks as having the worst air quality of any major city in the nation, with much of that due to vehicle tailpipe emissions,” said Kettle. “To boost ridership, we need to redefine our service so that we attract not only weekday commuters but also travelers in the non-peak hours and on weekends. If we’re successful, Metrolink will be a key contributor to reducing greenhouse gas emissions while providing affordable regional access to jobs, housing, and leisure and travel destinations.”
As of February 2022, the agency had accomplished the top short-term goal of its Climate Action Plan by eliminating all petroleum-based fossil fuels in its locomotive fleet and fully transitioning to natural renewable diesel fuel, the first rail agency in the nation to do so. Metrolink reports that this removes eight million gallons per year from the fossil fuel supply chain and reduces its GHG emissions by up to 80 percent, the equivalent of removing 13,900 passenger vehicles from the road for a year.
“All Metrolink trains today are powered by 100 percent renewable fuel,” said Kettle. “This transition away from fossil fuels is our bridge to a zero-emissions future as we explore advanced technologies of battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell power. Currently a study is in process to develop a zero-emissions plan, which will serve as a roadmap on how to conduct pilot test demonstrations and explore necessary infrastructure and facility investments required to accommodate future zero-emissions equipment.”
Spurred by the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Metrolink has launched the Southern California Optimized Rail Expansion program (SCORE). While providing more service to low-income and disadvantaged communities, the program aims to eliminate 3.4 billion VMTs and 51.7 million metric tons of GHG emissions.
Up north on the San Francisco Peninsula, Caltrain is similarly reduces emissions every time someone decides to ride the train rather than drive. The Caltrain Modernization Program (CalMod), targeted for completion in 2024, will electrify the corridor from San Francisco to San Jose, converting 75 percent of the agency’s diesel trains to electric trains. Increasing service to six trains per peak hour per direction, it will also eliminate more VMTs.
Caltrain will retain some of its diesel locomotives to continue service on the unelectrified territory between San Jose and Gilroy. The agency is currently researching alternative vehicle technologies that would allow those remaining locomotives to be replaced with zero-emission vehicles or battery-electric multiple units.
Caltrain already reports carrying more bikes than any other train operator in the country, and the agency is working to make its network even more accessible to sustainable micromobility options by installing eLockers at stations throughout the corridor.
The Caltrain Service Vision calls for dramatically expanding service by 2040. “This means many stations will see trains arriving every seven minutes or better, as electrified trains quickly shuttle people throughout the corridor,” explains Dan Lieberman, a spokesman for Caltrain. “The amount of people Caltrain will be able to move would require an additional 5.5 lanes be added to Highway 101 if they were forced to drive rather than take advantage of public transportation. The Caltrain of 2040 will offer the people of the Bay Area a real choice: they can stay stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, losing hours of time every day while helping to make the planet less livable, or they can relax on a state-of-the-art, sustainable vehicle that gets them where they’re going faster and easier.”
The agency is eyeing federal bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) dollars along with state investments as potential funding sources for some of the key projects of its 2040 Service Vision, including the planned extension to the Salesforce Transit Center in Downtown San Francisco, rebuilding of Diridon Station in San Jose, grade separations, and station improvements such as level boarding.
The push toward zero-emissions has also expanded to the water. In the early 2000s, the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) was a small planning agency with no transit service operations. It has since evolved to an agency with 16 high-speed passenger ferries that in 2019 carried more than three million people. WETA absorbed municipal-run ferry services in 2012, unifying them under the San Francisco Bay Ferry brand..png)
“Like every transit agency, WETA is exploring the best paths to ridership recovery and financial sustainability coming out of the pandemic,” said Executive Director Seamus Murphy. “In July 2021, we implemented our Pandemic Recovery Program, an initiative to incentivize a return to ferry service by cutting fares about 30 percent across our system while increasing service levels to 30 percent above pre-pandemic levels. The intent was to bring back ridership and make ferry service more accessible and equitable."
“We have seen success with the model despite impacts from COVID-19 variants through 2021 and early 2022. In March 2022, we reached better than 50 percent of pre-pandemic ridership, which compares favorably with other similar regional transit services. WETA is currently planning to continue to lean into this model of competitive fares with higher levels of service with regular analysis and adjustments based on ridership modeling and surveying.”
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has regulated commercial harbor craft since 2009. Under current regulation, by the end of 2022, ferries would be required to have Tier 2 or Tier 3 engines. The current regulation has accelerated turnover, but Tier 2 engines still emit 162 times more diesel particulate than a five-year-old school bus, according to CARB. Amendments adopted by CARB in March 2022, and which will take effect 2023, will push the sector toward zero-emissions in line with the state’s goal to be net zero by 2045.
The amendments are expected to reduce diesel particulate matter by 1,560 tons between 2023 and 2038, equivalent to the emissions generated by 246,000 heavy-duty diesel trucks driving from Los Angeles to Sacramento every day for a year. The amendments are also aimed at improving air quality for the disadvantaged communities disproportionately affected by commercial watercraft operations.
“WETA has worked with CARB to develop rules that are achievable as long as funding is available to support the capital costs necessary to achieve them,” said Murphy. “In order to maximize the emissions reduction outcomes, WETA’s plan for complying with the rules involves converting about half of the fleet to zero-emission technology. It’s smart business for us to move away from expensive fossil fuels—as is clearly evidenced by the fuel price surge we’re experiencing now—and it’s also the right thing to do when it comes to improving regional air quality, especially in disadvantaged communities where air quality tends to be worse. We’re glad to be at the forefront of this move toward zero-emissions in the maritime industry.”
WETA has planned a San Francisco Clean Ferry Short Hop Network. Zero-emission ferry service would connect downtown San Francisco, Treasure Island, Mission Bay, and other neighborhoods. “This is both the perfect way for us to gain experience in designing, building, and operating the first high-speed zero-emission passenger ferries in the nation, as well as adding important service that will improve transportation options in challenging areas on the waterfront,” said Murphy.
The agency is preparing to build its first two battery-electric ferries and completing a major study of zero-emission shoreside infrastructure and vessel technology. Key funding was provided by a grant from the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA), which House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi led the Bay Area Congressional Delegation in advocating for. WETA will compete for IIJA funds to fully realize its zero-emission water transit network.
As IIJA funding begins to flow, and as the state considers $200 million in new funding for emerging opportunities designed to spur the transition to zero-emission technologies for rail and ferry, the Association is stepping up to further support its members. At its April meeting, the Association’s Executive Committee voted unanimously to expand our Zero-Emission Bus Task Force to include rail and ferry operators, and to rename the Task Force the Zero-Emission Vehicle Task Force. This more inclusive Task Force is charged with assisting the Association’s members with navigating the transition to cleaner vehicle technologies and will help advocate for additional federal and state funds to offset the cost of the transition. It will be exciting to see how various agencies, including rail and ferry operators, make further strides toward their zero-emission goals.