Railroad industry representatives filed a lawsuit on June 16 to block new emission rules in California they say would disrupt the rail industry and force the premature retirement of about 25,000 diesel-powered locomotives nationwide.
The new rules would ban the use of locomotives more than 23 years old starting in 2030 and would force railroads to set aside more than $1 billion a year starting in the fall to purchase zero-emission locomotives and related equipment, but industry officials say there aren’t enough zero-emission vehicles available to replace the ones that would be retired.
