Tacoma Rail to buy Northwest’s first electric locomotives

City-owned Tacoma Rail is buying the Northwest’s first electric locomotives.

You might have played with electric trains as a child, but most life-size trains in the United States run on diesel, and the rail sector is far behind the automobile sector in moving to less-polluting energy sources like electricity.

Diesel exhaust contains lung-damaging particulates and, like all fossil fuel exhaust, contributes to overheating the planet.

Tacoma Rail has received federal and state funding to replace two of its 14 diesel “switcher” locomotives with battery-powered ones that emit zero pollution.

Switchers maneuver railcars around the tight curves of the rail lines at the Port of Tacoma before handing them off to the larger locomotives that haul freight around the country.

“These are brand new in the industry, so it's exciting to have those in the Northwest, especially with our sister utility Tacoma Power that uses hydroelectric power,” McCabe said. “So, these are about as green as they can possibly be.”