Amtrak broke ground for a $462 million maintenance facility on Friday, October 4 at Penn Coach Yard in Philadelphia.
Officials expect to complete the 350,000 sf facility by 2027 without service disruptions and create about 50 unionized maintenance positions once it’s finished.
The new facility “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,” said Amit Bose, an administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration.
From Amtrak’s announcement:
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.
Amtrak is also redeveloping 30th Street Station. That project, expected to be complete in 2027, is costing an estimated $550 million. Upgrades include a new food hall and updated seating area.
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Rendering: Herzog.com | Photo: Amtrak.com