2Sustain

Union Pacific Railroad announced last week that its entire fleet of 4,950 refrigerated rail cars is now compliant with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) standards that take effect July 17. The company has invested approximately $18 million in its environmentally-friendly refrigerated boxcars over the past two years. That investment includes installing new Tier IVi diesel refrigeration units on more than 700 boxcars, and Union Pacific estimates that these new units will reduce diesel particulate emissions by 50% over  previous refrigerated boxcars.

In addition, Union Pacific's refrigerated boxcars use the latest technology, such as global positioning satellite monitoring, to track the rail cars' trip progress and to monitor temperature, fresh-air exchange and diagnostics.

According to Lori Loschen, Union Pacific’s senior business director -Agricultural Products, a train of 100 of the company’s 64-foot refrigerated boxcars takes the equivalent of 350 to 400 trucks off America's congested highways –which also reduces emissions because rail is nearly four times more fuel efficient than trucks.

The greening of transportation and logistics is a fundamental component of sustainable supply chains driven by a variety of factors, including the need for CO2 reductions and energy conservation, improving efficiencies, and meeting consumer expectations. Realizing environmental objectives can also benefit other strategic and financial goals, and I’m looking forward to hearing how Union Pacific’s commitment to new refrigeration units affects other company performance indicators.

For an in-depth look at what's new in another aspect of green transportation, see "On the Ground Realities (and Solutions) for Truck Companies Looking to Go Green," an excellent, comprehensive article over at GreenBiz.com.