Union Pacific debuts two battery locomotives in California

Union Pacific announced on September 23, 2026, the arrival of two battery-electric locomotives in Southern California. The units are the first of four FLXdrive models built by Wabtec and ordered by the railroad to test next-generation technology in real operating environments.

Two additional locomotives are scheduled to arrive in October, completing a four-unit fleet designed to operate in the Greater Los Angeles area. Union Pacific will test the locomotives in rail yard switching operations and local customer service.

Each FLXdrive locomotive runs on approximately 7,000 battery cells, provides roughly 2.7 megawatt-hours of energy storage, and produces zero tailpipe emissions during operation.

Rafael Santana, chairman and CEO of Wabtec, said deploying the FLXdrive units in daily railroad operations will provide the data required to refine and scale battery-electric technology for freight transport.