Amtrak, with federal support, breaks ground on a new $462 million train maintenance facility in Philadelphia. The facility, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will enhance train maintenance efficiency and reliability, leading to improved customer service and more frequent travel across Pennsylvania and the Northeast Corridor.
Photo courtesy of Amtrak
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.
Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner was joined by Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose, White House Deputy Assistant to the President for Infrastructure Implementation Samantha Silverberg and Rail Passengers Association President and 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 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 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 Mathews. "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, due 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 sq. ft. 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 also will 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.
For more information, visit amtrak.com.
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