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 Linda Thomas
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Even when the Sound Transit commuter trains are just sitting in the station overnight, they are idling. That's by design. The trains operate with an Automatic Engine Start Stop system designed to be more fuel efficient and eco-friendly than turning the engines off and restarting. (Photo by Rick Hawkinson)

Why do Sounder locomotives idle when trains don't run?

March 4, 2013 @ 5:48 pm (Updated: 9:04 am - 3/7/13 )

Mud can stop a Sounder Train.

Lately, a man who climbed a tree near the rail tracks in Seattle, and mechanical problems have halted the Sounder commuter trains too.

One of my KIRO Radio listeners wants to know, why is it even when the trains aren't running, they're still idling?

"Why don't they shut the locomotives off, like we do with cars?" Ken, from Everett, wonders. "The Sounder trains they leave running for days on end."

In a voice mail he asks, "Are they a money losing thing that's losing even more money" through fuel consumption even when the tracks are blocked by a mudslide, or at night idling?

This has been one of the worst winters on record for passenger rail service in the Puget Sound region - even without significant snow.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe noted 200 slides, and about 50 of those blocked the tracks. Mudslides led to the cancellation of 134 Sounder North train trips, compared with an average of 20 cancellations per season. Sounder North had 26 days of disrupted service this season.

It's true that even when the commuter trains are just sitting in the station overnight, they are idling. That's by design.

Sound Transit has a total of 14 locomotives. The trains operate with an Automatic Engine Start Stop system (AESS).

Since the locomotives use water, not anti-freeze, the AESS keeps the engines at "idle" when the ambient temperature falls below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Otherwise, the water in the engine would freeze, says Sound Transit's Kimberly Reason.

Also, the AESS also automatically shuts down the locomotive when the train has been stationary for 20 or 30 minutes. So, engines that idle for long periods are idling because the outside temperature has fallen below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The purpose of the system, approved back in 2008, was save on fuel costs and emissions, and Sound Transit says it has.

Sound Transit achieved a 1.5 percent savings in Sounder fuel usage, which translates to 16,764 gallons of fuel not expended, due to the AESS and Wayside efficiency projects. Using the average cost of diesel fuel in 2011 at $3.21 per gallon, this translates to a savings of $53,584.

That fuel reduction amounts to 186.3 tons of CO2 not released into the atmosphere. So, while Sounder ridership increased, the amount of CO2 per rider decreased slightly from 10.5 pounds per boarding to 9.6 pounds.

As for Ken's comment that it's a "money losing thing," let's look at the numbers.

Sounder commuter rail boardings were up 11 percent for the last quarter. However, Tacoma Link light rail boardings declined by 3 percent and taxpayers subsidize the service between Snohomish and King Counties.

The daily Sounder trains between Everett and Seattle are one-third full, serving about 1,125 passengers per weekday. That's far short of the 2,400 to 3,200 rides projected when the deal was made in 2003 to put commuter trains on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight tracks.

A citizen oversight panel says if the number of passengers doesn't double by 2020 Sound Transit should consider shifting money to express buses.

The report from last fall said, although "members are very sympathetic to the sense of ownership, pride, and equity that Sounder North represents in Snohomish County… we believe that, in the long-term, the tax-payers and transit users of Snohomish County will not be well served if the high-cost Sounder North line continues to run well below capacity while the much lower-cost ST Express bus routes run overloaded with passengers standing in the aisles."

"At a certain point in the future, Sound Transit may have to come to terms with a reality that one of its services is not living up to a reasonable definition of viability."

The panel, chaired by Stuart Scheurerman, concludes "accepting the status quo of low ridership and high costs on North Sounder is not acceptable."

By LINDA THOMAS

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (32)


  • Add A Comment

  • R L M 456 wrote...
    I always wondered why
    March 4, 2013 5:25 pm
    the trains that pass me along I-5 around Tukwila

    Have All the windows that I can see daylight through????

    does that mean NO ONE is RIDING them???

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • R L M 456 wrote...
    The daily Sounder trains between Everett and Seattle are one-third full, serving about 1,125 passengers per weekday.
    March 4, 2013 9:09 pm
    1,125 divided by 2 = 562 passengers

    remeber these are to work --- and Home after work

    1,125 BOARDINGS equals 562 PASSENGERS

    divide the "cost to operate" by 562 and see what the (cost per passenger really is)

    Yikes

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • flipper wrote...
    That's ok...
    March 5, 2013 8:50 am
    ...you in the car subsidize the empty train with the 50% of your car registration fees.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    We typically take those trains you see along I-5 to the airport
    March 5, 2013 7:38 am
    and there are a lot of people riding on them, every time. If you're trying to get from the airport to downtown, it's about 1/10 the price of a cab and you don't get stuck in bumper-to-bumper freeway traffic. And, you aren't expected to tip. Compared to what it costs to park your car at the airport for several days, it's very inexpensive. It would cost us as much for gas to drive our car to the airport, let alone store it somewhere, as it costs to ride the light rail, both ways.

    By the time the train gets to Tukwila, there are only a couple of stops left. When we ride from downtown to SeaTac, the train might be 40% full as it leaves the bus tunnel headed south, and only 10% full when it gets closer to the airport. People are riding it, they just aren't all going all the way to the airport.

    The Tukwila stop is getting busier. Several residential developments have emerged along the right of way, all the way from Tukwila up through Rainier Valley. Once up in Rainier Valley, you see a lot of people using the light rail to commute to jobs in downtown Seattle.

    And, RLM, if you're driving on I-5, please keep you eyes on the road in front of you, rather than take a survey of how many windows appear to be empty in the light rail cars....oh, but wait....it's OK, isn't it? You're parked on the freeway, moving zero miles an hour in your private car. I guess then it really is OK to watch the light rail trains go by. :-)

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • vanderleun wrote...
    Or, Chuck, you unfortunate lad
    March 5, 2013 8:21 am
    RLM could be riding along as a passenger in a car while you are riding high wrapped in the fumes of your own flatulence.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • roomtemp wrote...
    "Why don't they shut the locomotives off, like we do with cars?"
    March 4, 2013 6:02 pm
    Essentially, because it's better for the machine if you don't. Usually, the bigger the engine is the less often you want to turn it off. Tolerances change with heat/cold, rotating parts lose lubrication, fluids become viscous, wear and tear on engine starting components, etc. It's why you don't see ferry boats shut down during loading. Or why truckers rigs often sit idling.

    The antifreeze answer given sounds a little strange though. I hope they're not risking an expensive train over some eco saving/cost cutting measure to not use a little anti-freeze/anti-corrosive. :(

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ricoli wrote...
    Sounder train fraud, waste, and abuse.
    March 4, 2013 6:14 pm
    They keep them running no matter if there are any passengers or not, so they might as well run while parked. That way they also can hire more idiots to maintain the engines. Remember, government projects like this don't have to make any profit. As a matter of fact, it seems they lose momey on purpose.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Moondoggie wrote...
    Wow! Sound transit has it's very own laws of physics
    March 4, 2013 6:59 pm
    For the rest of us, water freezes at 32.6 degrees
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Dare to be Conservative wrote...
    add anti freeze
    March 5, 2013 4:01 am
    Add antifreeze, unless they add an anti corrosive to the water. You will get electrolysis & deposits in the Cooling system. (there is probably environmental logic to it that will cost tax payers more in the long run) No matter how you look at it, if the engine is running it's using fuel. Fire trucks and ambulances plug their vehicles in to keep the block warm, so it can keep it at running temperature. They need to figure a way of doing that, instead of running these engines 24 hours at an idle polluting the environment.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    Guess Sound Transit has not heard of engine heater? Just plug it into the wall
    March 5, 2013 4:04 am
    oil and water stay nice and toasty. The only thing they like to burn is taxpayer money!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    CH, so when the tracks are blocked by some idiot hangin over them from a tree....
    March 5, 2013 7:15 am
    or a fresh mudslide, we ought to simply whip out a few miles of extension cord and find someplace to get power to the locomotive?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @CH...
    March 5, 2013 8:02 am
    But if they used an engine heater, they would have people yelling at them for spending the money to get them added to the engines and then for the cost of the electricity. We need to find out if this is industry standard (for the train industry) and why instead of just complaining. I'd bet that it most likely is industry standard for train engines, and that the reasons for it are far more involved and complicated than is being conveyed in this article. BUT without knowing that level of detail, we can't know for sure one way or the other.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    Plug it in eh?
    March 5, 2013 4:12 pm
    To a magic windmill downtown I suppose?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cameron wrote...
    Diesel exhaust, named most harmful to public health.
    March 5, 2013 5:21 am
    By the Washington State Department of Ecology. Maybe they should shut down the Sounder Trains and the Ferries that the State operate...afterall according to the State they killing us. http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/cars/diesel_exhaust_information.htm
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    We have the Obama regime costing us Americans TRILLIONS of dollars
    March 5, 2013 6:41 am
    and here we have Left wing Parrots who voted for immaculation TWICE bellyaching about the few pennies that it cost for a Diesel engine of this size to idle?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Thank you HAHA. If Linda had posted "It's raining outside"....
    March 5, 2013 7:16 am
    you would have found some means to slam "Obama and the Left Wing Parrots" in response.

    Fixated, much?

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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    In almost every way this boils back to the Dear Leader and all Left wing Parrots.
    March 5, 2013 7:36 am
    Doesn't it Chuck!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    No, it doesn't. Obama has no control over whether Sound Transit idles or shuts down a locomotive.
    March 5, 2013 7:45 am
    Yeah, fixated. A lot.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • RacerTodd wrote...
    Facts.
    March 5, 2013 7:08 am
    As a railfan, this is something I know some things about...

    Locomotive engines can't be have much of a load put upon them unless then coolant temp is above 100-120F or so. Many locos will be left idling in between jobs so as to keep them warmed up and ready to go. Warming up a loco engine takes a long time. They hold something like 2-300 gallons of coolant.

    BTW, these are BIG engines. Sounder locos (the F59PHI) have a 12 cylinder engine, each cylinder displacing 710 cubic inches and produces 3200hp. It's like having 24 Chevy 350 small block engines in one.

    No loco diesel engines, as far as I know, use antifreeze. I believe they do use some sort of an anti-corrosion additive. Typically locomotives can range over thousands of miles of a railroad's tracks. Having to have hundreds of railyards stock tens of thousands of gallons of antifreeze costs money. Using straight water means coolant can be topped up with simple tap water. Also, using straight water means leaks aren't an environmental hassle. Cooling water can be dumped into a sewer with no issue. A leak on the ground isn't a huge cleanup hassle, either.

    On older locos, you just had to keep them idling in cold weather to keep the coolant from freezing. The AESS system just monitors coolant temp and idles the loco enough to keep the coolant above freezing.

    There are aftermarket products that consist of a small 13hp diesel engine placed in the back of the loco. This small engine powers a heating coil and pump. It is plumbed into the loco engine's cooling system. It slowly circulates the coolant through the heating coil and will keep the coolant warmed to 100F and ready to go. These systems use 1/3 gallon per hour versus the 3 gallons per hour the big engine uses at idle.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    It's all about dedicated right of way
    March 5, 2013 7:27 am
    The Sounder represents a reasonable approach, even if the buses are currently more popular.

    If there were a dedicated bus way, buses would make more sense.

    Efficient mass transit isn't supposed to mean taking people out of their private vehicles, mired down in traffic moving at a glacial pace, and putting them on a bus stuck in the exact same mess.

    Figure out how to get the buses from Everett to Seattle at a 60-mph, non-stop pace during peak traffic periods, and you can scrap the Sounder. If they're currently capable of doing that (I don't know whether or not they are)they can scrap the rail service tomorrow.

    Steel wheels on a fixed roadbed vs. rubber tires on a highway? For commuter service it makes no difference, as long as there's a dedicated right of way.

    Rail works best for freight. A crew of 2-3 people can move 150 40-foot trailers using a tiny fraction of the fuel that would be consumed by 75 tractors, let alone the cost for at least 75 drivers.

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