Final Report for ARPA-E LOCOMOTIVES Advanced Locomotive Technology and Rail Infrastructure Optimization System (ALTRIOS) Project

Technical Report · Tue Nov 18 19:00:00 EST 2025

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/3011883· OSTI ID:3011883

Lustbader, Jason ^[1]; Bruchon, Matthew ^[1]; Baker, Chad ^[1]; Reinicke, Nick ^[1]; Zhang, Yi Min ^[1]; Smith, Kandler ^[1]; Birky, Alicia ^[1]; Payne, Grant ^[1]; Dick, Tyler ^[2]; Roscoe, Geordie ^[2]; Shi, Steven ^[2]; Fritz, Steven ^[3]; Anderson, Garrett ^[3]; Hartnett, Prativa ^[3]; Allardyce, Joel ^[3]; Swaney, Mike ^[4]; Soles, Joshua ^[4]; Doyel, Allen ^[4]; Pasta, Corey ^[4]; Duncan, Matthew ^[4] ; Williams, Nathan ^[4]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
2. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
3. Southwest Research Institute
4. BNSF Railway Company

The Advanced Locomotive Technology and Rail Infrastructure Optimization System (ALTRIOS) is a unique, fully integrated, open-source software tool used to evaluate strategies for cost-effectively deploying advanced locomotive technologies and associated infrastructure. ALTRIOS simulates freight-demand-driven train scheduling, mainline meet-pass planning, locomotive dynamics, train dynamics, energy conversion efficiencies, and energy storage dynamics of line-haul train operations. Because new locomotives represent a significant long-term capital investment and new technologies must be thoroughly demonstrated before deployment, this tool provides guidance on the risk/reward trade-offs and operation integration of different technology rollout strategies. An open, integrated simulation tool is valuable for identifying future research needs and making decisions on technology development, routes, and train selection. This final report details the ALTRIOS software architecture, major modules and components, and data validation process. It demonstrates the software's utility through a 30-year rollout case study targeting high penetration of advanced powertrain technologies by 2050 for two BNSF Railway routes: loaded taconite ore trains from Hibbing, Minnesota, to Superior, Wisconsin, and mixed-freight trains from Superior to Minneapolis, Minnesota.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 3011883
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP-5400-96872
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
ALTRIOS
ARPA-E
Advanced Locomotive Technology and Rail Infrastructure Optimization System
Python
Rust
advanced locomotive technologies
battery-electric locomotive
economic model
freight rail
freight train
freight trains
locomotive dynamics
meet-pass planning
open-source
powertrain model
refueling infrastructure model
technology rollout strategy
topography
topology
train dynamics
train performance calculator
train scheduling