A new study found that switching to electric trains in the San Francisco Bay Area significantly improved air quality.
According to the study, summarized by UC Berkeley News, Caltrain's recent switch from diesel to electric trains reduced riders' exposure to black carbon by an average of 89%. It also significantly reduced ambient black carbon concentrations in and around the San Francisco station.
Black carbon is a carcinogen. According to the study's authors, the reduction in black carbon exposure due to Caltrain's recent electrification could cut excess cancer deaths by 51 per 1 million people for riders and 330 per 1 million people for train conductors.
Electrifying bus fleets has another major advantage: slowing the warming of our planet. Also known as soot, black carbon has a warming impact up to 1,500 times stronger than carbon dioxide per unit of mass, according to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition.
One of the study's authors, air quality monitoring expert Joshua Apte, recounted visiting a Caltrain station in August 2024, when the first electric trains were being introduced.
"I was stunned at how much the station smelled like diesel smoke and how noisy it was from the racket of diesel locomotives idling away at the platforms, dumping smoke out into the community," Apte told UC Berkeley News. "A light bulb went off [in] my head — I realized this would all be going away in a few weeks."
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Meanwhile, the Bay Area isn't the only place in the U.S. that's greening up its transportation options. In fact, many school districts are electrifying their school bus fleets. Michigan recently announced that Dearborn schools will be getting 18 electric buses. California is spending $500 million to purchase 1,000 new electric buses, which will be distributed to more than 130 school districts in rural and low-income areas.
Individuals can make an impact by electrifying their own ride, opting to make their next car an electric vehicle.
"Given that dozens of similarly equipped, diesel-operated commuter rail systems exist across the U.S., there is substantial potential for air pollution exposure reductions elsewhere through future electrification projects," the authors of the new Bay Area study stated.
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