Railway usage[edit]
Biodiesel locomotive and its external fuel tank at Mount Washington Cog Railway
British train operating company Virgin Trains claimed to have run the UK's first "biodiesel train", which was converted to run on 80% petrodiesel and 20% biodiesel.[22]
The Royal Train on 15 September 2007 completed its first ever journey run on 100% biodiesel fuel supplied by Green Fuels Ltd. His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, and Green Fuels managing director, James Hygate, were the first passengers on a train fueled entirely by biodiesel fuel. Since 2007, the Royal Train has operated successfully on B100 (100% biodiesel).[23]
Similarly, a state-owned short-line railroad in eastern Washington ran a test of a 25% biodiesel / 75% petrodiesel blend during the summer of 2008, purchasing fuel from a biodiesel producer sited along the railroad tracks.[24] The train will be powered by biodiesel made in part from canola grown in agricultural regions through which the short line runs.
Also in 2007, Disneyland began running the park trains on B98 (98% biodiesel). The program was discontinued in 2008 due to storage issues, but in January 2009, it was announced that the park would then be running all trains on biodiesel manufactured from its own used cooking oils. This is a change from running the trains on soy-based biodiesel.[25]
In 2007, the historic Mt. Washington Cog Railway added the first biodiesel locomotive to its all-steam locomotive fleet. The fleet has climbed up the western slopes of Mount Washington in New Hampshire since 1868 with a peak vertical climb of 37.4 degrees.[26]
On 8 July 2014,[27] the then Indian Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda announced in Railway Budget that 5% bio-diesel will be used in Indian Railways' Diesel Engines.[28]