Sierra Northern Railway successfully tests hydrogen fuel cell-powered switching locomotive

Sierra Northern Railway (SERA), the freight division of Sierra Railroad Company, announced that it successfully completed testing of the first four-axle, hydrogen-fueled, zero-emission switching locomotive on March 27, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif.

“This accomplishment marks another major milestone in Sierra’s mission to bring hydrogen-powered zero-emission switcher locomotives within commercial reach for the short-line industry,” said Kennan H. Beard III, president of Sierra Northern Railway. “Both in California and around the world.”

A screenshot from a video of SIerra Northern Railway (SERA) testing its first four-axle, hydrogen-fueled switching locomotive. (Source: Sierra Northern Railway)

The demonstration of the locomotive was funded through a $4 million grant to fund the design, integration and demonstration of a hydrogen fuel cell switching locomotive from the California Energy Commission (CEC) and administered through GTI Energy.

“Sierra’s successful test proves that short lines can retire pre-Tier 0 to Tier 4 diesel locomotives and replace them with hydrogen-powered zero-emission switcher locomotives using our advanced hydrogen-powered units,” Beard said.

According to SERA, demonstration and validation of the hydrogen-powered switcher locomotive establishes a platform for widespread commercialization in the immediate future.

Short-line and switching locomotives account for a significant share of the total locomotive energy use within California, SERA said, as they carry a significant portion of freight in the state and operate on the first and last miles of the national freight network. This makes short-line operations an excellent testbed for the demonstration of zero-emission technologies and a key to decarbonizing transportation emissions.

Most switcher locomotives in California use an average of approximately 50,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year, SERA said, potentially leading to a reduction of more than 12 million gallons of diesel per year. This is approximately equivalent to the same amount of fuel used annually by 20,000 light-duty vehicles.

SERA said it has already started the process to build three additional hydrogen-fueled switching locomotives from funding it was awarded from the state of California, California State Transportation Agency, Port and Freight Infrastructure Project Funding through a public-private partnership with the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. The total project cost will be approximately $19.5 million to expand on its current efforts by developing, demonstrating and testing three additional hydrogen-fueled switcher locomotives.

The testing will be conducted on the soon-to-be-constructed test track in Sierra’s West Sacramento rail yard. When the project is completed in Q4 2027, it will expand SERA’s hydrogen-powered switching locomotive fleet to a total of four locomotives and lead the way to eventually converting the entire fleet to hydrogen power as well as all 260+ switchers in California.