The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) will present Michigan-based Lake State Railway Company (LSRC) with the 2026 Green Spark Award for environmental achievement at its annual conference, to be held April 12-14 in Minneapolis.
The ASLRRA Green Spark Award—formerly known as the Environmental Award—honors “an outstanding short line railroad that demonstrates exceptional commitment to environmental stewardship, sustainability and innovation,” according to the Association.
“Overall, LSRC’s accomplishments, both big and small, demonstrate a commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its operations without compromising service and growth,” ASLRRA reported in the Feb. 25 edition of its Views & News email newsletter. “Its effort truly shows size is no barrier to impact.”
The Association noted that it is a challenge for small railroads to replace older locomotives—generally a primary source of their emissions and expensive to replace—and to improve efficiency and reduce fuel consumption and cost. But LSRC “took a huge leap forward in this area,” with the recent purchase of four SD70ACe-T4 locomotives from Progress Rail, it said. The acquisition allowed LSRC to retire five locomotives that were more than 40 years old, “transforming the railroad’s fleet into one of the youngest and most environmentally friendly in the short line industry,” according to the Association.
Along with being more fuel efficient, these new Tier 4 units, which are also LSRC’s first AC traction locomotives, will enable the railroad to reduce the total number of locomotives needed on several key long-haul routes.
LSRC, Railway Age’s 2018 Short Line of the Year and 2021 Regional of the Year, has taken other steps to reduce its environmental impact, according to ASLRRA. Among them:
- “LSRC is continually adding idle-reduction technology to its fleet, installing automatic engine shut down/start up systems (AESS), auxiliary power units (APUs) and plug-in technology”—all of which, ASLRRA noted, help reduce fuel and engine maintenance costs, extend engine life, and decrease emissions.
- LSRC “works to take care of its locomotives in an efficient way, keeping its large locomotive facility warm during the winter by using a heating system powered by the railroad’s waste oil.”
- “LSRC has a proactive recycling program for all materials and disposes of used railroad ties at a cogeneration facility, also known as a combined heat and power plant, which converts biomass and other organic waste into energy.”
- LSRC “uses best practices and proactively manages waste and pollution via third-party consultants and a full-time properties manager.”
- LSRC is “active in national environmental initiatives, in part as a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) SmartWay Program”; it is “one of only a handful of ASLRRA members to be a part of the program independent of a large holding company.”
- LSRC Chief Mechanical Officer Roger Fuehring has been working “with the EPA to write regulatory compliance guides for railroads,” and “also advised development of current and potential emissions regulations to help ensure they are effective and realistic for small business railroads.”
LRRC operates on a route structure of approximately 375 track-miles with six connecting interchanges. The company maintains headquarters and shop facilities in Saginaw and terminals in Plymouth, Flint, Midland, Bay City, Gaylord and Alpena. Annual freight volume is approximately 60,000 carloads serving a diversified mix of end markets, among them automotive, aggregates, cement, agriculture, forest products, metals and chemicals. Since 2022, LSRC has been owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm focused on infrastructure investments in Europe and North America, with offices in New York, London and Paris.
Further Reading:
- LSRC Debuts Pere Marquette Heritage Locomotive
- IHR, LSRC, Pan Am, R.J. Corman Earn ASLRRA Business Development Awards
