Metra wins federal grant to acquire battery-powered trains

Metra will receive a $169.3 million federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) grant to buy up to 16 battery-powered, zero-emission trainsets.

The CMAQ funding was approved last week by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and the Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Committee.

The award represents the largest discretionary grant in the Chicago commuter railroad's history.

Metra will be among the first in the nation to operate the innovative green technology, agency officials said in a press release. Trainsets powered by batteries are in use in Germany, France and Australia, and Metra wants to explore whether they could work in the United States. The railroad issued a request for proposals for battery-powered trainsets in September 2022 and is reviewing the proposals it received.

Buying the trainsets would enable Metra to eliminate carbon emissions, retire some of its oldest rail cars and retire its oldest, most polluting diesel locomotives, which are well beyond their useful life, agency officials said.

The trainsets most likely will be introduced on the Rock Island Line.

"We think zero-emission trainsets could be an exciting and positive addition to [our] fleet for a variety of reasons," said Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski. "Beyond the environmental and noise reduction benefits, they also offer savings in energy consumption as well as better efficiency, flexibility, and reliability. Along with our other initiatives, they would continue to make [us] a responsible and effective leader in green energy technology."