I just read this report which made for some interesting reading. It was undertaken to lay out areas of R&D for railroads to increase fuel efficency and
emissions reductions. I was pretty surprised to learn of rail lubrication as a possible efficency booster which seems counter intuitive. I was looking for biodiesel applications but for railroads-this perhaps is a not a practical application at present. The fuel cell locomotive experiment is interesting as well.
Anyone know about the results?
http://www.climatevision.gov/sectors/railroads/pdfs/roadmap.pdf
Fuel Cell Locomotive Experiment
http://www.fuelcellpropulsion.org/army_locomotive.htm
FRA Results On Rail Lubrication
http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/Research/rr00_01.pdf