WASHINGTON — Amtrak could face problems in operating its NextGen Acela and Airo trainsets because some new maintenance facilities will not be completed in time, the Amtrak Office of Inspector General says in a new report issued today (Dec. 22).
According to the report, if current schedules for those facilities hold, Amtrak will only be able to operate the first 24 of its 28 NextGen Acelas, and 12 of its 83 Airo trainsets without additional maintenance capacity. Unless it can find other ways or locations to provide maintenance, equipment may need to be idled intermittently.
The problems developed, the OIG report says, because Amtrak facilities planning lagged about 15 years behind its fleet planning. Also, dozens of facility projects are being managed separately rather than as a single, coordinated effort. The issues reflect the lack of a joint fleet and facilities plan, which Amtrak officials told the OIG it was working to complete by the end of this year. Amtrak also has not developed an overall management framework for the facilities, which could include standard elements such as risk, schedule, and resource management.
Amtrak’s initial plans call for upgrading six Level 1 maintenance and inspection facilities, where it performs inspections and major mechanical work that requires the use of a crane. While NextGen Acelas have begun entering service, and the first Airo trainsets are expected to do so in 2026, only the facilities in Seattle and Philadelphia are expected to be substantially complete in 2027. Facilities are slated to be completed in Boston in 2029, Washington and New York in 2030, and Rensselaer, N.Y., in 2031.
A timeline projects that several times in the first four years of Airo operation, the number of trainsets in service will exceed the servicing capacity for the equipment. If equipment is idled as a result, it could prevent the company from gaining the additional revenue it expects the new trainsets to generate.
Amtrak management, after reviewing a draft version of the report, agreed with its recommendations calling for a joint fleet and facilities plan, and a management framework for the facilities projects. The company says it completed a fleet and facilities plan for fiscal 2026 in November; it will also develop three documents to address more detailed strategies for fleet acquisition, facility development, and funding and financing of fleet and facilities projects. Those are due in June 2026. A management framework for the projects is targeted for completion in March 2026.
The full report is available here.
This is pathetic. It’s the result of a management group that doesn’t know squat about how to run a real railroad! The money they’ve squandered on unearned, outrageous bonuses by way of meat-axe cost-cutting should have been put to work on facilities expansion and upgrading. Instead we have this fiasco. Bring back the Claytors and the Gunns, and fire the fly guys!
Why can’t they also use the maintenance facilities for the existing fleet?
This should be a fireable offense for both management and the Board of Directors.