The big difference is of course that you can electrify trains, as has happened in much of Europe and Asia, but not for most of Amtrak
The big difference is of course that you can electrify trains, as has happened in much of Europe and Asia, but not for most of Amtrak
Amtrak’s investment into rolling stock is there however it hasn’t come to fruition yet.
For short/medium haul amtrak has over 500 Siemens Venture cars (aka airo) on order with them starting service in 2026.
For long haul amtrak is in the beginning stages of selecting a manufacture to replace the superliners with expected rollout in “early 2030”
Amtrak right now is in a tricky situation which is why their running short consists even though there’s demand for longer trains. The problem is there’s a significant amount of damaged cars (63 to be expected, page 85) awaiting for repairs.
A lot of the issue amtrak is currently facing was directly caused by Trump slashing funding for amtrak in 2020 when amtrak needed it the most leading to amtrak to furlough 2000 employees which critically included mechanical employees. When amtrak should have been using the time to catch up on their maintenance they sadly fell behind and still have yet to recover.
Thanks for the informative reply and the references. Very interesting!