Progress Getting Amtrak Cars Back On The Road

By Jim Mathews / President & CEO

We all know getting Amtrak’s revenue-producing cars back out on the road has been...challenging.

Large numbers parked during the peak of the COVID pandemic remained out of service for some time, restoration work began slowly, and just as equipment began to enter service some significant incidents took many others out of service.

I asked Amtrak for a brief on where things stand for restoring equipment – and, therefore, eliminating the need for really short consists on long-distance trains. Recall that last October during our Fall conference in Meridian, Amtrak told our elected Council members that there were some 63 that would be brought back online this year. What I learned this week is that despite things like derailments and mechanical difficulties, by and large Amtrak is on track to keep that promise.

There were 50 cars stored at the beginning of Fiscal 2024 slated for restoration work, along with 13 wrecks that engineers felt they could bring back to life. Of the 50 in storage, 41 are complete, along with five of the 13 wrecks. Right now, there are four more coaches – Horizons – still in progress for restoration, along with seven wrecks: a Superliner Lounge, two Superliner coaches, a Superliner sleeper, and three Superliner Transition Sleepers.

The cars remaining are going to be harder, just based on complexity and condition, an Amtrak manager told me. At least eight stored Viewliner I Sleepers are being pushed off into Fiscal 2025 (which, I note, begins at the end of next month), and work hasn’t yet started on another Superliner Transition Sleeper.

After taking a hard look, engineers decided an Amfleet I table car in storage just wasn’t worth bringing back. On the other hand, five more cars were added to the original Fiscal 2024 restoration plan and they’re in work right now.

Unfortunately, it has been an unusually bad stretch for wrecks and derailments, and when it comes to Amtrak’s low overall fleet count every lost car is precious. Altogether, Amtrak shared with me that this year the shops have had to deal with 44 recently wrecked pieces of equipment spanning the whole range of Amtrak’s car types – Amfleet Is, Horizons, Superliners, and Viewliners, coaches, lounges, and sleepers.

Half of them were successfully repaired and re-introduced into revenue service. Five more are being worked on right now, and 15 are waiting to enter the repair process. There are none being held out for investigative purposes (what’s called a “Legal Hold”), but engineers decided that two coaches – an Amfleet I and an Amfleet II – were not repairable.

The larger meta-issue, of course, is that this will just barely restore status quo. Amtrak has placed orders to replace Acelas, to re-equip state-supported routes with new Airo trainsets, and is developing an historic long-distance equipment order. The Acelas and Airos will start running fairly soon, but the Superliners will have to tough it out for many more years yet. Let’s hope the wrecks slow down so that Amtrak is able to start building out consists that really serve passenger demand.