Freight operator DB Schenker Rail UK is to fit stop-start technology to its Class 66 locomotives.
Ninety locomotives will be equipped with Auto Engine Stop Start (AESS) technology by the end of 2015.
DB Schenker has said AESS, which stops an engine from running while idle, will reduce a locomotive’s engines running by a third, saving 4,500 tonnes of CO2 between now and 2015.
The announcement this week follows a seven-month trial of the technology, which has been manufactured by ZTR, on a Class 66 locomotive in Cornwall.
Stop-start technology will also reduce the frequency of flat batteries and freezing in sub-zero conditions, DB Schenker has said.
