In Canada, the push toward hydrogen is part of an effort to slash the higher-than-normal emissions associated with the country’s oil sands, the world’s third-largest oil reserves.

“I am most enthusiastic about our new green energy carloads related to Alberta’s massive growth in hydrogen energy projects evidenced by the slew of recent announcements,” James Cairns, senior vice president of rail centric-supply chain, said in a conference call yesterday. “This could be of the scale of crude by rail.”

As Canadian oil output has exceeded the capacity of pipeline’s to export it, energy companies have turned to rail as a way to transport the oil to refineries. But the business has been volatile for rail companies as volumes of crude-by-rail shipments have sometimes plummeted when oil-market downturns prompted companies to reduce output or new pipeline capacity was added.