CO2Rail, a US based train manufacturing startup is aiming big in terms of developing trains capable of capturing carbon dioxide directly from the air using train-loaded modules systems that will be installed on already running trains that are in regular service.

The current methods employed to capture carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere require vast amounts of area and energy since the technology is still nascent. Researchers at CO2Rail in collaboration with the University of Toronto, addressing this issue have come up with a new method that can be utilised in order to employ the potential of the existing rail network and capture CO2 from the atmosphere while the trains rail along the tracks making their usual rounds.

The company is employing the significant amount of wasted energy released in the braking system of trains to assist their direct air capture system. This technology can enable CO2 capture in an energy efficient manner and in quantities of giga-tons, making it cost efficient and helping economical use of the captured CO2.

Apart from this, CO2Rail researchers claim that every complete train braking manoeuvre generates enough energy to power 20 homes for a day and explaining this, Professor Peter Styring, from the University of Sheffield says, "This innovative technology will not only use the sustainable energy created by the braking manoeuvre to harvest significant quantities of CO2, but it will also take advantage of many synergies that integration within the global rail network would provide".