Sierra Northern Railway is leading the industry in building and testing new environmentally friendly zero emission hydrogen fuel cell switching locomotives that will improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and noise, and improve the quality of life for communities in proximity to rail operations. Each deployed zero emission hydrogen-fueled locomotive will eliminate the use of conventional diesel fuel.

This work began when the California Energy Commission in 2021 awarded Sierra Northern Railway nearly $4 million to fund the design, integration, and demonstration of the first Sierra hydrogen fuel cell switching locomotive. It is expected that the Commission-funded switching locomotive will start testing in 2024 then go into regular operations. Sierra Northern Railway in July 2023 received additional funding of approximately $19.5 million from the State of California to expand those efforts with three additional switching locomotives. The company by 2027 will have a fleet of four zero emission hydrogen-fueled switching locomotives operating in the Sacramento region, paving the way for its entire fleet and the more than 260 switchers operated by short lines throughout California to be converted.