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The New Paradigm in Carbon Removal

CO₂Rail is building specially designed rail cars equipped with innovative technology that harnesses regenerative braking energy—an otherwise wasted resource in most trains—to enable both cost-effective diesel locomotive decarbonization through Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and commercially viable Direct Air Capture (DAC) for ambient air Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR).

By leveraging the vast global rail network, extensive infrastructure, and a well-established manufacturing base, CO₂Rail drives scalable and efficient climate solutions. A solution that can achieve over One Gigaton of CO₂ removal just with the regenerative braking energy currently being produced then immediately wasted in most trains.

Twin Solutions

Ambient Air DAC

CO₂Rail's Direct Air Capture (DAC) system can sit in any configuration on a train and uses energy from a regenerative braking system to capture carbon from ambient air.

Diesel Exhaust CCS

CO₂Rail's proprietary LETA (Locomotive Exhaust Transfer Array) emissions mitigation system can effectively capture up to 70% of a diesel locomotive’s exhaust.

Key Advantages

Gigaton CO₂ Removal Potential

If as many CO₂Rail cars were built as the global rail networks could easily power in currently produced (but wasted) regenerative braking energy, today's CO₂ removals could exceed one billion tonnes per year. As DAC efficiencies improve and global rail utilization increases, CO₂Rail's long-term potential could reach 50%–60% of the IPCC's recommended CDR target of 10 GT/year."

Leverages Existing Infrastructure

CO₂Rail requires only minor adjustments to a railroad's operations and a locomotive's current electrical system—making it an effective short-term decarbonization method that operates on existing infrastructure. If laid end to end, this infrastructure would stretch to the Moon almost four times, with railcars and locomotives that would circle the equator three times.

Regenerative Braking Self-Powered

CO₂Rail uses the enormous amount of electrical energy generated from stopping or slowing an entire heavy, fast moving train many times per day to power CO₂ removal from both ambient air and emissions from diesel-powered trains. Energy that currently goes to waste in most trains.

Carbon footprint icon

Best Use Case for Train RBE

Compared to alternative uses of a train's enormous regenerative braking energy, such as additive propulsion or HEP utilization, CO₂Rail is over 5 times better at carbon mitigation per unit of energy recovered.

No Fixed Land Footprint

Compared to alternative large-scale direct air capture methods, CO₂Rail has practically no fixed land-based footprint. Other DAC methods could require a footprint as large as the entire country of Portugal to achieve the IPCC's recommended CDR target of 10 GT/year CO₂e.

Modular & Upgradable Design

CO₂Rail's system is sorbent-agnostic and provides a versatile platform for a suite of DAC and CCS technologies, both existing and anticipated. Whether electro, temperature, pressure, humidity, or other types of sorbents—both solid and some types of liquid—the CO2Rail platform can deploy at scale and remain easily upgradable.

Highly Scalable Approach

Rail operators can scale our solution as far and wide as they need – taking on additional railcars as needed to decarbonize their operations and maximizing DAC CDR removals according to their specific regenerative braking energy generation projections.

Highest Quality Offsets

All CDR methods are not equal. Direct air capture represents the highest quality CDR method available thereby increasing the monetary value of both CO₂Rail's product ultimately sequestered and it's off-take agreements.

Lowest Cost Method to Decarbonize

By tapping into the currently wasted regenerative braking energy generated from trains already moving freight and passengers, CO₂Rail is able to significantly lower the cost of DAC, with high-confidence projections ultimately aiming for a cost of less than $50/tonne CO₂e.

Best-In-Class CAPEX & ROI

With the lowest per-unit CAPEX investment requirement compared to other solutions—most required deployment infrastructure already having been built—and the highest potential margins, CO₂Rail projects mid-term ROI measured in dozens of months, not dozens of years.

It's All About Energy

Our Disruptive Advantage? ...Energy

Every year, trains worldwide, both diesel and electric, dissipate about 420 TWh of braking energy as rheostatic waste heat. This is more than all but 10 countries use annually, over 4 times the annual output of the Three Gorges Dam in China, and 105 times the annual output of the Hoover Dam in the U.S.

Until now, this enormous amount of electrical energy has been wasted in most rail operations. CO₂Rail uses it to power CO₂ removal from both ambient air and emissions from diesel-powered trains.

Vetted & Peer Reviewed

"Top 20 Direct Air Capture Companies in 2023"

>>> Carbon Herald – "Top 20 Direct Air Capture Companies In 2023" - May 2023 - Link

"One of 2021’s most exciting and impactful developments in science"

>>> Advanced Science News – "Innovative Science in 2021" - January 2022 - Link

#1 of "25 Top Rail Companies and Startups in United States in February 2025"

>>> F6S – "25 top Rail Companies and Startups in United States in February 2025" - February 2025 - Link

#14 of "Top 15+ Direct Air Capture and Carbon Storage Companies" in 2024

>>> Energy Theory – "Top 15+ Direct Air Capture and Carbon Storage Companies" - April 2024 - Link

"I believe CO₂Rail is one of the few approaches to CDR that has a chance of succeeding as it looks at a system rather than an individual operation."

Peter Styring

>>> Peter Styring - Professor of Chemical Engineering & Chemistry at The University of Sheffield, Co-Founder and Director at CCU International

"The big question is, which of the carbon capture technologies can deliver? Without partiality, we have placed our bets on CO₂Rail."

Geoffrey Ozin

>>> Geoffrey Ozin - Government of Canada Research Chair in Solar Fuels, Distinguished University Professor, University of Toronto, Albert Einstein Award Recipient

"CO₂Rail is poised to revolutionize carbon capture"

>>> Advanced Science News - “Carbon Negative Earthshot” takes aim at atmospheric carbon dioxide" - November 2021 - Link

"CO₂Rail is a bold, visionary concept for distributed CDR with significant potential."

Roland Dittmeyer

>>> Roland Dittmeyer – Professor, Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Recognized by Hundreds of Media Outlets Across the Globe

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Multi-Gigaton Carbon Removal Potential

> 1 Gigaton/year CO₂ Removals Possible

CO₂Rail has the potential to achieve the Gigaton scale of carbon removal annually if just 50% of the world’s wasted train braking energy was leveraged for Direct Air Capture. Utilizing infrastructure already in place allows CO₂Rail to scale at a pace like no other solution.

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CO2Rail is Unlocking Carbon-Negative Rail

View the Research

Discover what makes CO₂Rail unique

Understand the proprietary technology behind CO₂Rail's direct air carbon capture via this peer-reviewed research paper.

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