SEATTLE — The big takeaway from this year’s annual Amtrak Board of Directors public meeting is that the company has momentum to keep growing patronage despite any headwinds that might begin blowing when the Trump Administration and an all-Republican Congress take over in January.
The session today (Wednesday, Dec. 4) was held at a ballroom opposite Seattle’s King Street Station. In addition to a recap of the company’s record-breaking delivery in fiscal 2024 [see “Amtrak highlights ridership, revenue, infrastructure gains …,” Trains News Wire Dec. 3, 2024], presentations by several Amtrak managers revealed a tentative plan for when new corridor trains or long-awaited refurbished long-distance equipment is expected to be placed in service:
— The first new Alstom Acelas are now set to debut in spring 2025. Fourteen of 28 trainsets have been delivered and are still undergoing Federal Railroad Administration-mandated tests. Amtrak’s Karyn Criswell told the meeting, “We are currently preparing for pre-revenue testing.” No details were offered regarding potential modifications that might be required as a result of testing, or the status of expanded servicing facilities the longer trainsets will need at Northeast Corridor terminals
— Amtrak President Roger Harris confirmed to News Wire after the session that the Texas Eagle is slated to see its Sightseer Lounge car return in March and a third Viewliner sleeping car will be added to the Chicago-Miami Floridian about the same time. “We are working through the maintenance backlog as we restore production capacity,” says Harris, adding, “I don’t know the plan beyond the spring and summer schedule but our intention is to keep [the third Floridian sleeper] there. We really need it.”
— Little mention was made of the extended Request for Proposals process to replace Superliners with a new bilevel long-distance fleet, other than that contracts are now expected to be awarded in late 2025. News Wire has learned the final RFP deadline was recently revised at the carbuilders’ request to Dec. 15, 2024, almost a year after it was first issued. In response to a question, CEO Stephen Gardner said the infrastructure bill has funded the fleet replacement procurement. “We would certainly hope,” says Gardner, “that Congress would consider opportunities to grow the long-distance network and provide the dollars necessary to capitalize those routes.” Regarding increased long-distance capacity in the short term, Gardner acknowledged that repairing heavily damaged cars is expensive. “The key to increasing incremental capacity,” he says, “is getting shorter turn times so we have a lower spare ratio. It’s not an easy problem to solve over the next five years.”
— The first of 83 Siemens Airo trainsets will begin arriving in 2026 and will initially be placed in service on the Vancouver, B.C.-Eugene, Ore., Amtrak Cascades, with additional equipment deployed to the Northeast Corridor and other eastern routes the following year. There are options for another 103 trainsets. “We have pricing locked in on those options,” says Criswell. “That’s a huge benefit to us and our state partners.”
Panel addresses Cascades operation
A particularly informative panel discussion involving stakeholders from the Washington and Oregon transportation departments, Amtrak, and Sound Transit that focused on the success and challenges the Cascades have faced. With the addition of fifth and sixth round trips launched in March 2023, the service has broken ridership and revenue records with a hodgepodge of previously sidelined Horizon coaches and cafes and two Oregon-owned Talgo trainsets.
Challenges include poor on-time performance triggered by BNSF Railway and Union Pacific freight congestion. Also, the cab car of the Mount Bachelor Talgo trainset was impaled by a tree in a recent storm [see “Engineer injured, equipment sustains significant damage …,” News Wire, Nov. 21, 2024]. That leaves little flexibility for the remaining seven equipment sets should mechanical issues develop. An Oregon official told Harris he is “optimistic” that repairs can be made to the heavily damaged cab car in early 2025.
As for improved timekeeping, Mark Paparo, Amtrak’s senior director of state-supported services, says he’s hoping a pilot project in Virginia involving the state, Amtrak, and CSX adjusting schedules to eliminate delays can be expanded to the Pacific Northwest.
Amtrak is also working on an initiative to develop pre-clearance customs facilities in Vancouver, B.C., Montreal, and Windsor, Ont. Currently, southbound Cascades must stop at the border for about 10 minutes even though there is a segregated facility at Vancouver’s Pacific Central Station. Placing U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel in a Canadian facility would eliminate that delay. Lengthy pauses at border crossings for the Adirondack and Maple Leaf are much worse. But Amtrak’s Rob Eaton says feasibility studies are underway for pre-clearance at Montreal’s Central Station and at VIA Rail Canada’s Windsor station, where Amtrak is seeking to terminate one Wolverine Corridor round trip instead of reversing at Pontiac, Mich.
Food changes coming, board nominees still in limbo
In the meeting’s question-and-answer session, Harris responded to an attendee’s query about onboard food deficiencies by saying, “You will be seeing an evolution of food service in which we will be moving away from what has been characterized as ‘flex dining.’”
When asked about the upcoming administration change in the nation’s capital, Board Chairman Anthony Coscia said, “With every passenger we deliver safely, we are building more support in an environment we don’t completely control.” During an intermission, Coscia told News Wire that board nominees awaiting Senate confirmation face a similar lack of control. Unless action is taken before the end of the year, the confirmation process will need to begin again with new nominees. One already vetted nominee, Elaine Clegg from Boise, Idaho, was in attendance.
Board member and Normal, Ill., mayor Chris Koos went through the nomination process three times before he was confirmed. He stressed the importance of Amtrak trains to his community, telling the group, “The service is so popular that unless you book in advance, you may not get on the train.”
Joel Szabat, a board member confirmed with Koos in early 2023, noted that the Empire Builder he took from Chicago operates over several host railroads. “We have to work with them on safety to make sure the [derailment of a Cascades trainset in 2017] doesn’t happen again.”
