June 21, 2008

Honda Cuts Fleet Transport Costs, Emissions With Auto-Max Rail Cars

Honda has announced a new 400-car fleet of Auto-Max rail cars, which hold up to 22 cars and trucks each — twice that of Honda’s bi-level rail cars. The new rail cars cut per-vehicle transportation fuel costs and reduce CO2 emissions, the company says. Auto-Max cars make up about 30 percent of Honda’s rail fleet.

Honda says it also invested about $7 million to redesign the rail infrastructure at two of its automobile plants in Ohio, which added rail capacity and increased the pace at which inbound and outbound trains can operate.

According to CSX, which serves Honda’s rail operations in Ohio, the infrastructure improvement contributes an annual savings of 2,436 gallons of fuel and 27 tons of CO2 per year.

The benefits of such moves could be multiplied with railroad companies beginning to test new ultra-low emission engines. Union Pacific Corp.’s website touts the company’s “cleaner and greener” fleet of locomotives.

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