When Amtrak’s new Airo railcars roll off the assembly line in 2026, they’re headed for the Cascades route in the Pacific Northwest.
But some experts think the new California-built vehicles, with improved safety features, should head to our region first to replace some of Amtrak’s older railcars that run along the busy Northeast Corridor .
Amfleet railcars, the workhorses of Amtrak’s routes, including the The Northeast Washington to Boston region meets current federal safety standards, but continuing to use them on the high-speed corridor creates potential risks, said Paul Reistrup, who was the nation’s second railroad president.
“At speeds of up to 125 mph, no passenger rail service in the history of American railroading has run passenger cars this old, this fast,” he wrote in a January letter to federal regulators.
Reistrup’s concerns stem from the 2015 crash of Amtrak Train 188, which derailed on the Frankford section of Philadelphia, killing eight people and seriously injuring 46 others. After a yearlong investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board said the structure of the Amfleet railcars contributed to the casualties, although it determined the cause was a distracted driver who made a turn too quickly.
When the cars fell and skidded on their sides, the windows flew out and four people who were thrown from the train died. Many others were injured by being thrown from their seats and colliding with other people and flying luggage.
Amtrak’s $7.3 billion order for up to 83 Siemens Airo trains, capable of speeds of up to 125 mph, addresses one factor that made the Philadelphia crash so horrific. Like all modern trains, the new Airo locomotives and cars are designed and built as a unit rather than separate vehicles coupled together. This leads to a smoother ride and also makes it harder for cars to roll over and overturn.
After the derailment, the NTSB also called for other changes to the train’s design to better protect passengers in side-impact crashes.
“As time went on, we learned that you have to rely on the structure of the sides and the roof, what I call lateral strength,” said Reistrup, a civil engineer who worked for decades on both freight and passengers, in a recent publication. interview. “I never remember in all my many, many years … experiencing a side impact.”
Timeline of the new Northeast Corridor cars?
Amtrak said customers riding the Northeast Corridor can rest easy until the new Airo cars arrive. “Existing trains meet all Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) safety standards,” a spokesman said in a statement.
At the time, that stretch of track in Philadelphia did not have positive train control, a system that automatically brakes a locomotive to avoid collisions or derailments. Currently, all of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and its trains have PTC.
The company has said it plans to replace up to 40% of its non-Acela fleet by 2031, starting on the Cascades route and then gradually introducing the Airos elsewhere.
The Amtrak spokesman said the company expects to have some Airos operating on the Northeast Corridor by 2027.
It’s also unclear when the cars are scheduled to be installed on Keystone service between New York and Harrisburg. These trains use Amtrak’s Metrorail cars, which are currently 54 years old.
Northeast Corridor trains under development
Train cars were built to protect passengers from being propelled forward in a head-on crash, but not by lateral force, the NTSB said after the Train 188 crash. In its findings, the board recommended new federal design standards to strengthen rail cars against side impacts and a study of whether seat belts would better protect passengers.
» READ MORE: Amtrak should upgrade cars, track poles
In addition, the board recommended stricter standards for carriage windows, concluding that the four people ejected would have survived if the windows had been secure.
The Federal Railroad Administration issued a rule for high-speed trains in 2018 (called Tier III) that allows passenger cars to be made of lighter material with “crush zones” to absorb impacts on the outside, but the passenger compartments hardened.
Older railcars such as the Amfleets running on the North East Corridor are not covered because the rule only applies to cars ordered after 2018.
French rail manufacturer Alstom is currently building at a plant in upstate New York the first cars to conform to the new standard: 28 Avelia Liberty trains to replace Acelas on the Northeast Corridor, at a cost of 2 billion dollars. Capable of speeds of up to 160 mph, they are expected to begin service later this year or early 2024.
“We are trying to save lives”
Reistrup, 90, was Amtrak’s president from 1975 to 1978 and oversaw the launch of the Amfleet railcars, which were built by the now-defunct Budd Co. in Philadelphia. But his interest in challenging the way Amtrak operates continues. He is also a senior adviser to AmeriStarRail, a private company proposing to operate Amtrak’s Acela on the Northeast Corridor with more trains and cheaper tickets. The current Acelas only have business and first class seats.
In 2019, Ameristar made a $1 bid for the Acela 2.0 contract. It said it would take over and expand Alstom’s purchase to 78 Liberty trains, with access to $5 billion from investors.
Amtrak rejected the bid as out of scope for the request for proposals, which relied on two levels of service for the NEC, the company’s busiest route, said Scott R. Spencer, director of AmeriStarRail operations.
“Amtrak’s acquisition of new Acela trains and Airo trains is consistent with [the federal] NEC FUTURE plan. … [which] has determined that future service on the Northeast Corridor should include a premium express service and a corridor service that offers more stops,” a company spokesman said in a statement.
AmeriStar said its approach would ensure that new cars replace older ones in the fleet more quickly.
“We’re not trying to cause them trouble [Amtrak]” Reistrup said. “We are trying to save lives.”
