PHILADELPHIA — Amtrak has awarded a contract to Herzog Contracting Corp. for design and construction of a new Heavy Maintenance Facility at the passenger operator’s Penn Coach Yard in Philadelphia, the first of six major projects planned for maintenance facilities around the country.
The projects at five locations in the Northeast and one in the Pacific Northwest will prepare the facilities to support maintenance, inspections, repairs, and minor service and cleaning for Amtrak’s next-generation Acelas and Airo equipment, currently under construction, as well as proposed new long-distance trainsets. Still to come over the next year are contracts for facilities in Washington, New York City, Boston, and Seattle.
“We look forward to breaking ground in 2024 on this critical infrastructure investment along the NEC, America’s busiest passenger corridor,” Laura Mason, Amtrak executive vice president, capital delivery, said in a press release. “This new facility will speed up train maintenance and reduce turnaround times, providing Amtrak customers with more reliable and frequent service.”
Early work is expected to begin this spring. The project is being funded from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; the total cost is expected to be in the $450 million to $475 million range, with the Herzog contract representing a large portion of that. Completion is projected for 2027.
— Updated on March 5 at 2 p.m. CT with information on project cost and completion date.
Roger Thomas, there are about 5 or 6 Acela trainsets at Penn coachyard right now.
The Philly location makes a little sense as the Keystone equipment can be cycled in as all of the trains do not terminate in New York. There are a few that just run Harrisburg to Philadelphia.
Are there no maintenance facilities at those locations now? Wilmington, DE and Bear, DE are lboth less than 50 miles from Philadelphia. Thought each of the Delaware locations were for heavy maintenance. Electric locomotives in Wilmington and passenger cars at the Bear location.
In pre-Amtrak days, the government built maintenance facility for the Turbo Trains in Providence. No schedules began or ended in Providence. But Claibourne Pell was a senator from Rhode Island.
Wonder which will come first – the maintenance shops or the equipment they will maintain there? How many new but unusable Acela train sets are sitting in Philly now?
Given that this is a federally funded “project”, onw has to wonder how many years/decades this will take to complete, and just how far over budget it will finally be.
“The projects at five locations in the Northeast and one in the Pacific Northeast [sic]” NRPC = Northeast Railroad Passenger Corp.