Railroads: emissions, impacts, and the potential for improvement

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Railroads emissions, impacts, and the potential
for improvement
Michelle Bergin GA Tech 2nd Georgia Air Quality
and Climate Summit The last frontier controlling
non-road mobile sources May 6-7, 2008

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Outline

• Extent and Activity of Railroads
• Emissions and Emissions Inventories
• Atmospheric Impacts
• Potential for Improvement
• GA EPD Rail Plans

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Railroad Extent and Type
Definition by Revenues (million) in GA of GA track
Class I 18.7 2 73
Class II (Regional) 93.5 to 18.7 0 0
Class III (Shortline) less than 18.7 21 27

• Locomotives
• Line-Haul 4000 HP, 40 years
• Switchers 2500 HP (road and yard)generally
  retired line-haul locomotives

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Georgia Rail Shipments
Plot data from Bureau of Transportation
Statistics, Georgia Transportation Profile 2002
http//www.bts.gov/publications/state_transporta
tion_statistics/georgia/html/table_03_07.html
Approximately 70 of rail freight
tonnage represents through traffic. (ARC Atlanta
Regional Freight Mobility Plan, Feb. 2008)
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Benefits of Rail
http//www.aar.org/getFile.asp?File_id364

• Cost effective freight services.
• Increased safety compared with trucks.
• Reduce highway congestion (a typical train is
  equivalent to several hundred trucks).
• Three or more times more fuel efficient than
  trucks.
• Produces less emissions compared with moving
  similar tons of freight by truck.

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However
(CARB, 2004)
Smokestacks on Rails Getting clean air
solutions for locomotives on track,
Environmental Defense, 2006
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Railroad Emissions of Interest
Line-haul, shortline, and yard locomotives and
associated equipment Engine specific emission
factors
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Effects of Ozone and Particulate Matter

• Ozone (O3)
• Causes acute and chronic health problems
• (lungs and respiratory functions).
• Damages crops, vegetation, and wildlife
• (several billion US loss/ yr).
• Is a potent greenhouse gas.
• Particulate Matter (PM)
• Causes acute and chronic health problems,
  including premature death.
• Damages soils, plants, water, and materials (acid
  deposition).
• Degrades visibility and alters global and
  regional climate.

Atlanta, GA on Sept 11, 2002 after 8 orange
level O3 days.
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GA Air Quality, Population, and Railroads
Red PM2.5 and ozone nonattainment Purple Ozone
nonattainment Green 5 Urban Core Counties (Cobb,
Fulton, Gwinnett, Dekalb, Clayton) Blue lines
Railroad tracks Blue squares population density
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Rail Activity in the Urban Core
Rail Yards GA DOT
Traffic Density (GTM) GA DOT
Source GA DOT
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Inman and Tilford Railyards and the Fire Station
8 Monitor
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Annual PM2.5 averages at Atlanta sites (excluding
Fire-Station 8)
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Explaining the increment in PM2.5 concentrations
at F.S.8 - summary
From Dr. Amit Marmur, Railroad and Air Quality
Meeting at GA EPD, March 2007
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Air Quality Management Tools Modeling
Air Quality Goals
Air Quality/Health Impacts
Pollutant Distributions
Predictions
Observations
Air Quality Model
Emissions
Basecase performance Future case control
analysis
Photochemical Modeling Dispersion Modeling
Receptor Model (e.g. PMF)
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Building an Emissions Inventory

• Types of sources
• (point, area, biogenic, on-road and non-road
  mobile)
• Spatial and temporal patterns of release
• (elevated/ground level, hourly, weekly, seasonal,
  )
• Chemical composition (speciation profile)

Public domain figures, references available
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Current Calculation Method for Railroad Emissions

• Line-haul
• Statewide annual fuel use by Class I Railroads
• Statewide and county level track length and
  annual traffic density (in GTM)
• EPA national average line-haul emission factors
• Switchers
• Number of switchers per yard (estimated or
  voluntarily submitted by railroads)
• EPA national average annual fuel use estimate
• EPA national average switcher emission factors
• Railroad maintenance equipment
• EPA NONROAD mobile emissions model

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GA Modeling Emissions Inventory 2002 General
Source Categories (tons/yr)
Georgia
Urban Core
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Modeling Emissions Inventory 2002 Non-road
Mobile Categories (tons/yr)
Georgia
Urban Core
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Modeling Emissions Inventory 2002 Railroad
Source Categories (tons/yr)
Georgia
Urban Core
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Ex. Kansas City Railyard Emission Estimates
Kansas City Railroad Emission Inventory, Mid
America Regional Council / Eastern Research
Group, Jan 2008. http//www.marc.org/environment/a
irQ/pdf/KansasCityRailroadEmissionInventory.pdf
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2002 NOx Emissions Statewide/Multistate
Line-haul constant
Railyard diurnal (noon)
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2002 NOx Emissions Yards
Rail Yards GA DOT
600 a.m.
noon
Source GA DOT
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2002 NOx Emissions Line-haul
Traffic Density (GTM) GA DOT
NOx Emissions (moles/s)
1 mole/s NOx ? 2.73 tons/day
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GA EPD Rail Plan

• Reduce railroad-related emissions, particularly
  in the urban core and other nonattainment
  counties CMAQ proposals.
• Improve railroad-related emissions inventory for
  modeling, air quality planning, and support of
  public health studies questionnaires, internal
  activities, and CMAQ subproject.
• Combine efforts with other states to characterize
  and reduce railroad-related emissions ERTAC and
  other participation.

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CMAQ Proposals

• Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program
  (SAFETEA-LU, US DOT)
• FY20008 1.75B, FY2009 1.78B
• Minimum apportionment to each state (0.5), then
  nonattainment areas (ozone and CO)
• For use in ozone, PM, or CO nonattainment areas
• Georgia DOT, State Air Quality Partners,
  Statewide Metropolitan Planning Organizations,
  and the State of Georgia.

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Genset Switcher Conversions
Gensets also use 25-35 less fuel, with
associated decreases in other emissions (e.g.
CO2, toxics)
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GA EPD Railroad CMAQ Proposals
A complementary Monitoring and Analysis Project
was proposed for the Fire Station 8 area (near
the NS Inman and CSX Tilford Railyards).
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Characteristics/Data for Emissions Inventory
Improvement

• Allocate yards correctly (spatially and
  temporally), ensure all are included (GIS files,
  data, verbal).
• Refine/include temporal patterns for line-haul
  (especially Shortlines and regular schedules).
• Refine emission factors by railroad fleet and
  yard.
• Fleets owned/operated in SE region, GA, or better
  (track).
• By engine or Tier level certification or average
  mix.
• Can weight by activity.
• Collect fuel use data per fleet/railroad and
  yard.
• Collect all data ideally on a daily or monthly
  basis for 2002 and 2005, priority on summertime
  months.
• Questionnaires have been sent (late 2007).

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Future Demand for Freight Transportation Will
Continue to Grow
Billions of Tons of Freight Transported in the
U.S.

• Will require a 148B infrastructure investment
  over the next 28 years.
• Study commissioned by the AAR at the request of
  the National Surface Transportation Policy and
  Revenue Study Commission.

Freight Railroad Infrastructure and Capacity
Issues presentation by Craig F. Rockey, VP of
Policy Economics, Association of American
Railroads, Chicago, Illinois, Oct. 17, 2007
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Growth in Trains Per Day From 2005 to 2035 by
Primary Rail Corridor
Freight Railroad Infrastructure and Capacity
Issues Craig F. Rockey, VP Policy Economics,
Association of American Railroads, National Rail
Conference, Chicago, Il. Oct. 17, 2007
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Future Corridor Volumes Compared to Current
Corridor Capacity
2035 without improvements
Below capacity Near capacity At capacity Above
capacity
Freight Railroad Infrastructure and Capacity
Issues Craig F. Rockey, VP Policy Economics,
Association of American Railroads, National Rail
Conference, Chicago, Il. Oct. 17, 2007
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North American Railroad Statistics
http//www.aar.org/PubCommon/Documents/AboutTheInd
ustry/Statistics.pdf
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Thank You

• Contact Info
• Michelle Bergin 404-362-4569
• michelle_bergin_at_dnr.state.ga.us

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• Estimates are based on the U.S. EPA national
  average yard switcher fleet and duty cycle
  assumptions
• assumed average mix of pre-1973 and Tier 0
  engines.
• 82,490 gal/year of fuel use per switcher.
• 362 g/gal NOx per switcher.
• 8.28 g/gal PM2.5 per switcher
• (U.S. EPA, 2005. Emissions, Monitoring and
  Analysis Division. Documentation For Aircraft,
  Commercial Marine Vessel, Locomotive, And Other
  Nonroad Components Of The National Emissions
  Inventory. Vol. I.)
• Percent reductions are from Tier 0 comparisons
  (76 reduction in NOx and 93 reduction in
  PM2.5). Fuel use would be reduced by about
  20-35 per locomotive , reducing greenhouse gases
  and other emissions proportionately. These
  emission reduction estimates could be improved by
  comparing actual fuel-use and duty-cycle data for
  specific yards and switchers.

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Uses/Goals for Improved Emissions Inventory

• Protect public health and the environment
• use in photochemical and dispersion modeling to
• improve the accuracy of model predictions
• evaluate source-specific contributions to ozone
  and PM2.5
• design efficient control strategies
• evaluate contributions to PM monitors
• quantifying potential air quality improvements
  and meet federal requirements
• Gain better understanding of impacts of diesel
  combustion on air quality and support
  epidemiological studies that attempt to
  distinguish impacts of different components of
  PM2.5.