Amtrak Media: Amtrak Advances Major Rail Yard Upgrades in Philadelphia

https://media.amtrak.com/2024/03/amtrak ... ladelphia/

Amtrak has awarded a construction contract for the first of six major maintenance facilities around the country that will help modernize maintenance practices and ensure a successful transition from an aging fleet to modern, state-of-the-art trains.

Digging deeper: Herzog Contracting Corporation will design and construct a new Heavy Maintenance Facility at Amtrak’s Penn Coach Yard in Philadelphia.

This facility will service many of Amtrak’s Acela and Northeast Regional trains that operate up and down the Northeast Corridor (NEC), which today provides more than 12 million annual trips and growing.
Amtrak Executive Vice President, Capital Delivery Laura Mason:

“We look forward to breaking ground in 2024 on this critical infrastructure investment along the NEC, America’s busiest passenger corridor. This new facility will speed up train maintenance and reduce turnaround times, providing Amtrak customers with more reliable and frequent service.”
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What shops are going to be closed?

How long will the inside be so we can judge train capacity.

https://media.amtrak.com/2024/10/amtrak ... -facility/

Amtrak and Partners Break Ground on New Philadelphia Train Maintenance Facility


Project will advance Amtrak’s new era of rail and support modern, state-of-the-art trains

PHILADELPHIA – Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner was joined today by Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose, White House Deputy Assistant to the President for Infrastructure Implementation Samantha Silverberg and Rail Passengers Association President & CEO Jim Mathews to celebrate the start of construction for Amtrak’s new heavy maintenance facility at Penn Coach Yard in Philadelphia.

“This new maintenance facility is critical to upgrading the customer experience with new state-of-the-art trains, combined with our other major infrastructure projects,” said Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner. “This project and several others like it will help drive continued ridership growth and future service expansion thanks to funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and continued support from the Biden-Harris Administration, Congress and many other partners around the country.”

“This project is an example of the progress that the Biden-Harris administration is making to realize the President’s vision for world-class passenger rail,” said Deputy Assistant to the President for Infrastructure Implementation Samantha Silverberg, “President Biden knows firsthand the importance of reliable train service which is why he secured the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak in his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This project will enable the efficient maintenance of Amtrak’s new Airo and Acela trains in Philadelphia to keep the trains running on time so that people can get to where they work, live and play.”

“Under the Biden-Harris Administration and through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are putting historic rail investments to work to advance major projects and upgrade vital infrastructure like Amtrak’s Penn Coach Yard,” said FRA Administrator Amit Bose. The Administration’s investments are modernizing and expanding passenger rail in the Northeast and beyond and helping to deliver the world-class rail Americans deserve, said FRA Administrator Amit Bose. Upgrades at Amtrak’s Penn Coach Yard near Philadelphia’s Gray 30th Street Station will drastically improve train maintenance, reduce train turnaround times, and more, resulting in more reliable and frequent passenger rail service for people in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and riders up and down the Northeast Corridor.”

“America’s passengers have been waiting for many decades to see this kind of long-overdue investment in the future of our rail network, which will make the trains we ride cleaner, safer, and more reliable,” said Jim Mathews, President & CEO of the Rail Passengers Association. “It’s yet another example of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s historic funding levels making a meaningful difference for the fare-paying public, and we’re thrilled to see this important project – one of six around the country – move forward.”

When it opens in 2027, the new heavy maintenance facility will improve the customer and employee experience by speeding up train maintenance and reducing turnaround times, thanks to more modern maintenance practices. The new facility will be used for daily inspections, service and cleaning, along with life cycle maintenance and heavy maintenance repairs. These upgrades will enable more reliable and frequent service across Pennsylvania and the Northeast Corridor (NEC), America’s busiest passenger railroad.

The $462 million project is funded entirely by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This new facility will service many of Amtrak’s Acela, Northeast Regional, Keystone Service and Pennsylvanian trains that operate up and down the NEC, which today provides more than 12 million annual Amtrak trips and continues to grow.

Earlier this spring, Amtrak awarded a design-build construction contract for the new maintenance facility. Construction will take place within the existing rail yard footprint in two phases and require relocating existing functions currently spread around Penn Coach Yard into one consolidated multifunctional facility.

The new heavy maintenance facility will encompass nearly 350,000 square feet within the existing rail yard footprint, featuring a two-bay Maintenance and Inspection (M&I) facility with inspection pits, a drop table, and fueling pads at each end, as well as two adjacent Service and Cleaning (S&C) tracks.

Additional upgrades include a new direct fixation track within the M&I and S&C areas; removal of existing and installation of new catenary (electric power) structures; new retaining walls and storage buildings; utility relocations and more. No major customer impacts are expected as a result of this project.

The new maintenance facility at Penn Coach Yard is one of Amtrak’s many rail yard and facility investments planned around the country to support new trains that will begin serving customers in the coming years. It is also the first in this program to begin construction.

Six major rail yards (five in the Northeast and one in the Pacific Northwest, where a construction contract was just awarded) will be upgraded with new facilities to support maintenance activities, routine inspections, equipment repairs and minor service and cleaning needs. Several layover sites outside the NEC will also be built or renovated. These are located along existing routes where trains are cleaned, serviced or stored, such as Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, Penn.

Amtrak is transforming train travel with brand new trains slated to replace a majority of the existing fleet, and these rail yard upgrades will advance the company’s new era of passenger rail. Amtrak Airo manufacturing has ramped up, New Acela testing is underway, and procurement has formally begun to replace the current Long Distance fleet.

west point wrote: ↑Mon Mar 04, 2024 12:15 am How long will the inside be so we can judge train capacity.

435 passengers

The facility is almost half way between NYP and WASH. It may be that a major problems with AX-2s or other trains will enable a substitute to be inserted with maybe an hour delay?

Three Keystone trains to Harrisburg originate in Philadelphia each morning and the last three Keystone services from Harrisburg terminate in Philadelphia, and it seems that at least two early morning Northeast Regional departures from Philadelphia originate in Philadelphia. So that's five trainsets that can receive maintenance at their scheduled overnight location with this facility. I can also well imagine that since the Avelia Liberty fleet is larger than the Acela Express fleet, originating an early morning Acela service or two from Philadelphia may allow Amtrak to stable those trains in Philadelphia, relieving the pressure to expand facilities in Boston, NYC, and Washington to accommodate the larger Avelia Liberty fleet.

west point wrote: ↑Mon Mar 04, 2024 12:15 am How long will the inside be so we can judge train capacity.

The length of the repair facility is a very important question. It will give us an idea of how long Amtrak expects to make its AX-2s and Regionals. Now if the doors at each end can close around a train for extra long consists then this length will certainly not be a limiting length of all NEC trains. The closing of doors would be needed for extreme winter weather and maybe summer heat times.

Any idea how the facility will be heated and cooled? Heating especially important to melt snow and ice.

Lest we forget, Pennsylvania is not only a "battleground state", but is the "battle royal" state. It appears that s/he who wins it, wins the Election.

For maintaining equipment assigned to the Keystones, fine. But if you start chipping away at the resources the existing facilities have, Amtrak will need to deadhead a lot of equipment about, especially Acelas at such time they get placed in service.

Don't be surprised if there is a "post-Election surprise" regarding this facility.

Finally, getting all the politics in one place lest this be killed, wouldn't a Diesel locomotive hauled Acela 2 set be a great "farewell to Washington" for Joe come January 20?