USA: The first of Amtrak’s Airo push-pull trainsets has left Siemens Mobility’s Sacramento factory for testing at Pueblo in Colorado.
In 2021 Amtrak awarded Siemens Mobility the Intercity Trainsets framework contract covering the supply of 200 km/h trainsets, a 23-year technical support and spare parts agreement and the provision of new or upgraded maintenance facilities. Amtrak has so far ordered 83 Airo trainsets to replace 40 to 50 year old vehicles used on medium-distance inter-city services, and has options for up to 130 more sets to support growth.
Production is underway at Siemens sites at Sacramento in California and Lexington in North Carolina, with 3 500 parts being manufactured by nearly 100 suppliers across 31 states.
The Airo is intended to provide improved passenger amenities, including comfortable seats arranged 2+1 in business class and 2+2 in standard, with power sockets, USB-C ports, seatback tablet and phone holders, tray tables and adjustable cup holders. The trains will have spacious and accessible toilets and a ‘contemporary’ food service.
Following testing at Pueblo and then on Amtrak tracks in the northeast, the first sets are expected to enter service in 2026 on the Cascades route linking Washington state, Oregon and British Columbia.
Eight six-coach sets have been ordered for the service, and will operate with Siemens Charger diesel locos. They will have an evergreen, cream and mocha livery representing the Pacific Northwest and harking back to previous Amtrak Cascades trains.
Amtrak said ’with panoramic windows and additional table seating, customers can enjoy some of the best views and connect to the some of the most scenic landscapes in the world’, and the café car will feature ’local Northwest favourite foods including beer, wine and spirits along with some self-service food options’.
Electro-diesel and diesel-battery sets are to be used on the Empire Service, Amtrak Virginia, Keystone Service, Downeaster, Amtrak Cascades, Maple Leaf, New Haven/Springfield Service, Palmetto, Carolinian, Pennsylvanian, Vermonter, Ethan Allen Express and Adirondack routes.
The final trains are expected to enter service in 2031-32.
