The rail and locomotive industry remains one of the most significant sources of pollution impacting frontline and fenceline communities. Pollution from rail and locomotives is harming our public health, our climate, and the safety of our communities and workers.

The EPA and policymakers must act NOW on critical regulatory actions to move zero-emission solutions, close loopholes, and address the cumulative impacts caused by rail and locomotive pollution.

Add your name in support of our demands to move zero-emission solutions for the rail and locomotive sector!

The EPA must:

1. Adopt a Tier 5 zero-emission locomotive standard that requires 100 percent of all new switchers to be zero-emission by 2025 and 100 percent of all new line-hauls to be zero-emission by 2030. Adopt a Tier 5 zero-emission locomotive standard that requires all locomotives and locomotive engines to operate in zero-emissions by 2045.

2. EPA and states should work together to develop a program to decommission all non-Tier 5 locomotives and locomotive engines as operators transition their fleets to zero-emissions. The program must include publicly available and measurable reporting requirements. All non-Tier 5 locomotives and locomotive engines should be scrapped or decommissioned by 2045, ensuring that the dirtiest locomotives and switchers engines are taken offline and cannot be used or sold to another sector or country.

3. Grant California’s request for authorization of the In-Use Locomotive Regulation in full and immediately.

4. Close the regulatory loophole allowing the locomotive industry to operate pre-Tier 0, Tier 0, Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 locomotives for decades.

5. Update emission standards for all remanufactured locomotives and locomotive engines so that 100 percent of all remanufactured switchers meet the Tier 4 or Tier 5 standard by 2025 and 100 percent of all line-haul locomotives meet the Tier 4 or Tier 5 standard by 2027.

6. Deploy regulatory air monitors in communities near railyards that capture freight-related pollution such as toxic air pollutants, criteria air pollutants, volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants, including but not limited to fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, greenhouse gas emissions, and greenhouse co-pollutants. Data should be accessible to the public. Data should support regulatory and programmatic action and intervention to address the overburden of harmful pollution in toxic hot spot communities. EPA should work with states to set up a response to an exceedance program similar to the “bad smell or quality of life hotline.” EPA should consult with environmental justice leaders to coordinate the deployment of air monitors. EPA will schedule regular check-ins with environmental justice leaders to share the data collected.

7. Conduct emissions modeling, GIS mapping, and other research to analyze the proximity of railyards to sensitive receptors, the cumulative impacts with neighboring facilities and pollution sources, and the health impacts on local communities, accounting for race & socio-economic factors. Annual reporting must be publicly available.

8. Develop a nationwide locomotive registry capturing all Class I, II, and III locomotives in operation within the last year. The registry should be publicly available and include the tier, locomotive operator, years in operation, locations, routes, and hours of operation for each locomotive.

9. Use the authority in Section 108(f)(1)(C) of the Clean Air Act to identify, publish and share strategies with appropriate Federal, State, and local environmental and transportation agencies to clean up toxic hot spots associated with railyard and locomotive activities to “reduce the impact on public health” and “protect the health of sensitive or susceptible individuals or groups.” EPA should work with environmental justice leaders to identify clean-up strategies. Once information on these measures is published, EPA should work with states, local communities, and environmental justice leaders to develop a clean-up plan with a timeline.

10. In coordination with the Moving Forward Network, other environmental justice community leaders, and frontline workers, apply the Biden Administration’s “whole of government” approach as highlighted in the 2024 Fact Sheet: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Sets First-Ever National Goal of Zero-Emissions Freight Sector to mobilize the entire apparatus of the federal government to develop a federal strategy to eliminate pollution from railyard operations. The approach should include, but not be limited to, coordinating federal agencies like the U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Federal Railroad Administration’s Climate & Sustainability Division to support increased deployments of electric locomotives, catenary and charging infrastructure buildout, and funding to support this transition.