Although railway has played a great role in transportation in China, there has been no any study on ecological footprint of railway transportation industry until now. In this study, the ecological footprint of energy consumption for traction of locomotives during 1975 2007 was calculated and its intensity and dynamic characteristics were analyzed for the first time, based on the annual locomotives energy consumption data and state power statistic reports. The results show that (1) the ecological footprint of energy consumption for traction of steam locomotives decreased at an average rate of 959 km² per year (3.6%) during 1975 2001 while that of diesel locomotives increased at an average rate of 341 km² per year during 1975 2007, and the ecological footprint of energy consumption for coal-fired power and hydropower of electric locomotives increased at an average rate of 399 km² and 215.14 hm² arable land per year, respectively during 1975 2007. All in all, the total ecological footprint of energy consumption for traction of all the locomotives in China railways fluctuated during 1975 2007. (2) The intensity of ecological footprint of energy consumption for traction of locomotives in China railways decreased from 52.88 m² per kilo converted ton-km in 1975 to 8.55 m² per kilo converted ton-km in 2007 at an average rate of 1.39 m² per kilo converted ton-km per year. (3) The intensity of ecological footprint of energy consumption for traction of locomotives in China railways was far less than that of airplanes, and the averaged value of the former accounted for only 12.3% of that of the latter during 1991 2007.