The greening of the Metro Red Line train yard: Front and center, from left, ISO presenter Ernie Cumming, sustainability systems, FTA FHWA Los Angeles team leader Ray Tellis, Metro’s K.N. Murthy, transit delivery director, and ISO presenter Don MacDonald, UL DQS Inc. sustainability systems director. Photo by Gary Leonard.

The news release from Metro is below and here’s the link to a previous post about the rail yard:

First Maintenance Facility in the Nation

Metro Celebrates International Environmental Award

Today the Metro rail yard for the Red and Purple Line subway became the first major rail maintenance facility in the nation to earn international recognition for its environmental management system (EMS).

The maintenance yard for the Red and Purple Line subway. Photo by Gary Leonard.

EMS means that Metro runs the rail yard in a way that conforms to a set of world class environmental management standards, as determined by the independent International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

“Today’s celebration is to acknowledge the efforts of Metro Red and Purple Line Yard personnel in promoting our environmental and sustainability program to reduce our carbon footprint and operational costs,” said Cris Liban, Environmental Compliance and Service Manager for Metro.

“We’re very pleased with this recognition, which is part of Metro’s overall program to pursue sustainability wherever possible, as directed by the Metro Board. We’re currently working on many levels and projects toward that goal, not the least of which is our totally alternative clean-fueled bus fleet. Today’s award is confirmation of our commitment and the hard work and dedication of our staff.”

For the celebration, Metro personnel gathered at the Red/Purple Line Yard, alongside the Los Angeles River east of Little Tokyo, where they received a plaque commemorating certification from a representative of underwriter Laboratories, a third party auditor that examines compliance of EMS practices.

The institution of an EMS has been advocated by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) as the clearest commitment of an agency to demonstrate environmental stewardship and sustainability. Metro was a beneficiary of FTA assistance in development of the Red Line yard EMS. An agency-wide roll-out of EMS is now underway, beginning at a downtown bus yard.