Once the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority completes a long-awaited passenger train between San Bernardino and Redlands, the agency will test an innovative technology that could transform train travel throughout Southern California.

The agency recently started utility work for the Redlands Passenger Rail Project, a nine-mile passenger train using three cab car trains running on clean diesel technology.

The agency also received a $30 million grant from the state to convert a fourth diesel train into a zero-emission unit that can move passengers without polluting the air or releasing greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change.

This would be accomplished by swapping out the the diesel engines with a lithium-ion battery pack and possibly adding an overhead catenary fixture at the halfway point to re-charge the train’s batteries, said Carrie Schindler, director of transit and rail programs for the SBCTA.

Though still experimental, if the technology is successful, it would be the first battery-operated passenger train in North America, she said.

Zero-emission trains

The inland agency is working with Metrolink, the regional commuter rail service, to possibly test the battery-powered train on their routes.

“We are very excited. We are looking forward to bringing more transit choices to the area, especially ones that relieve congestion and reduce air pollution,” Schindler said on Thursday.

The non-polluting technology works on existing heavy rail infrastructure, which makes it applicable to other services, she said.

“Now we get to introduce new technology that can be implemented in other aspects of transit throughout Southern California, throughout California, throughout the nation,” Tim Watkins, chief of legislative and public affairs with SBCTA, told the Southern California News Group in May.

Trains running on fuel cells, a kind of battery that uses hydrogen and oxygen in a chemical reaction to make energy, are operating in Europe as emission-free trains.

For now, clean diesel

The $290 million Redlands passenger train will connect the San Bernardino Transit Center with the University of Redlands on an old freight route that once ran the Pacific Electric railway in the early 1900s, with in-between stations at Tippecanoe Avenue, New York Street and Downtown Redlands.

The passenger train service, named Arrow, will be powered by smaller, cleaner diesel engines that generate electricity, a more efficient propulsion system than traditional passenger trains, Schindler said.

Arrow train line construction — of the rails, bridges, at-grade gates and five stations — will start next year, with service operated by Omnitrans expected sometime in 2021, Watkins said. The service will begin with 25 daily round trips.

The cleaner diesel train is an interim step to a carbon-free train system that could debut in the next three or four years on the Arrow train route, Watkins said.

“I would have loved to have delivered a zero-emission train five years ago,” Schindler said.