WASHINGTON — Amtrak has awarded contracts and begun activity preceding construction for modernization of yards in Boston, New York, and Washington to prepare them for the delivery of new Airo trainsets.
“These investments are key to introducing our new Airo trains on the Northeast Corridor beginning in 2027,” Amtrak President Roger Harris said in a press release. “With ridership and revenue at all-time highs, we’re making great strides to meet this growing demand with new, state-of-the-art trains that will improve service reliability and the overall customer experience, thanks to strong support from the Trump administration, Congress, and many other partners.”
In Boston, a design-build contract has been awarded to a joint venture of SPS New England and Railroad Construction Company for construction of a new two-track maintenance and inspection facility at Southamption Yard, along with renovation that will turn the existing two-two track service and inspection facility into one for service and cleaning. Work will take place in stages, with full completion expected in 2029.
At New York’s Sunnyside Yard, a Scalamandre-Citnalta Joint Venture will design and build facilities including a new two-track maintenance and inspection facility; six new service and cleaning tracks with canopies; consolidation of commissary, employee workspace, storage, and parking into a single location; state-of-good repair work on 11 existing service platforms used to clean and prepare trains for service and store trainsets when not in operation; and additional infrastructure work including reconfiguration of two interlockings and tracks connecting the yard to the Northeast Corridor. Full completion is projected for 2030.
And at Ivy City Yard in Washington, a Clark-Herzog Joint Venture has received the contract to design and build three new service and cleaning tracks with canopy coverage, renovate two existing two-track maintenance facilities to include a drop table, and replace the yard’s existing water main infrastructure. That project is also projected for completion in 2030.
Similar projects are already in progress in Philadelphia and Seattle. Amtrak says the projects will create a consistent maintenance system for the Airo trains, which will operate as semi-permanently coupled trainsets rather than with individual railcars, and will be more efficient and reduce servicing turnaround times while improving safety and working conditions.
