An Amtrak Inspector General’s report stated that the passenger railroad ended up with delays and added costs for a new generation of passenger trains by not having its staff check out train and maintenance facility designs.
The $7.3 billion Airo program will add a new generation of rains on routes running through Wilmington and other cities in the coming years, the first major upgrade in nearly half a century. The trains can run on both diesel and electric lines, reducing conversions to on routes where electric catenary is not availaqble.
According to the report, in June 2021, Amtrak contracted with Siemens Corporation to purchase up to 83 new trainsets, the largest passenger rail equipment purchase in its history. On Dec. 15, 2022, Amtrak unveiled renderings of its Airo trains.
The report indicated that Amtrak “experienced early challenges with stakeholder engagement in its trainset acquisition and maintenance facility modification work.”
In one example from the report, Amtrak waited until three months after signing the Intercity Trainset contract with Siemens before its food and beverage personnel reviewed the design of the planned food service car. They found that the initial design for the car lacked the necessary food storage space to accommodate longer trips and required additional space for customers to stand and move through the galley car. As a result, Amtrak initiated a change order to redesign the café car, which increased program costs by $42.5 million and will delay the delivery of the first trainsets by five-and-a-half months.
In addition, Amtrak did not engage with key personnel at the maintenance facilities that for the new trainsets as it developed their designs.
According to the report, in February 2022, program officials visited the Seattle maintenance facility to verify the preliminary design, but onsite personnel identified a design element that would have impacted maintenance and commuter train operations in the yard, which resulted in another design change. Amtrak paused all maintenance facility design activities in spring 2022 to conduct stakeholder workshops at each of the 21 facilities it planned to modify as part of the Intercity Trainset program. Any additional design changes resulting from the workshops could delay construction by 10 to 13 months, the report said.
Amtrak has also since established a program management framework that closely aligns with company and industry standards, including adding cost, risk, and change management controls. The report notes, however, that Amtrak has not established controls to avoid challenges that occur when Amtrak staff are not part of the process.
The Office of Inspector General recommended the company ensure program personnel identify and engage all relevant stakeholders to specify requirements early and modify those requirements as program needs and assumptions evolve. More information is included in the full report which can be downloaded on the OIG’s website: https://direc.to/iuWN.
