Although similar to the EMD SD32ECO, the SD30C-ECO follows the Canadian Pacific Railway's request for crashworthiness and EPA emission standards with the "C" in the designation denoting crashworthiness of the cab, frame, and fuel tank.

Cores for the locomotives come from CP's fleet of EMD SD40-2s.

The frames, trucks, and internal components are reused while a new (standard) cab, designed and constructed by EMD, and a fuel tank is built new for each unit.

With the increased emissions requirements, the locomotives feature flared radiators similar to those on the EMD SD45 to house additional cooling equipment.

[1][2] A similar rebuild, classed as SD40E3 was carried out by CSX in early 2017.