Multi-Decadal Decarbonization Pathways for U.S. Freight Rail

The freight rail industry faces pressure to reduce its greenhouse emissions. Currently there is no tool to rigorously identify realistic decarbonization pathways. NC State will quantify the potential of battery-electric, hybrid, and hydrogen-fuel motive power to achieve deep decarbonization over a 30-year planning horizon. The team will develop the Achieving Sustainable Train Energy Pathways (A-STEP) open-source software tool to account for train dynamics, propulsion, energy storage, multi-train interactions, energy delivery, and storage infrastructure. They will consider substitutions, capacity expansion of the power system, levelized cost, and freight demand across a range of scenarios. NC State will apply A-STEP to a national sample of key rail corridors.