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Union Pacific Railroad recently began a year-long test in its Oakland, Calif., yards to determine if an experimental aftermarket exhaust system filter can reduce air emissions in older locomotives’ engines.

The railroad retrofitted a 24-year-old, 1,500-horsepower yard locomotive with diesel particulate filters (DPFs), which features high-temperature silicon carbide blocks designed to trap particulate matter in engine exhaust. The device heats gases and burns off emissions as carbon dioxide.

UP also installed Global Positioning Satellite-enabled sensors on the locomotive’s diesel engine to remotely monitor engine and DPF operation in real time.

In addition, the railroad plans soon to begin a year-long field test in the Los Angeles area of the North America rail industry’s first long-haul diesel-electric locomotive modified with aftermarket systems designed to reduce hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate exhaust emissions, UP said.