All Aboard the Eco-Express: Rail's Hybrid Energy Solutions

clipped from www.scientificamerican.com Trains have long been a more fuel-efficient way to haul freight than trucks, but now the federal government's amped up support in the alternative energy arena may help "the iron horse" go even greener with hybrid locomotives and other advances. Although large freight railway traffic (measured in carloads) is down 19 percent this year due to the recessed economy, it grew 47 percent between 1990 and 2007, and railroads have been more fuel-efficient than trucking for at least the past few decades, according to the Association of American Railroads. The average train in 1980 used four liters of fuel to move one ton of freight 380 kilometers, and by 2007 the average increased to 700 kilometers, or three times the fuel efficiency of a truck, says Steven Forsberg, general director of public affairs with BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway) in Fort Worth, Tex.