Amtrak OIG Sounds Alarm Over Maintenance Strategy

by Sean Jeans-Gail | VP of Gov't Affairs & Policy

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A report released by the Amtrak Office of Inspector General in the closing days of 2025 argues that Amtrak faces significant challenges in planning and managing its $4 billion effort to upgrade its rolling stock maintenance facilities, a potential stumbling block as the railroad looks to utilize Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding to renew and revitalize its national fleet of equipment.

Context

Amtrak is undertaking a generational transformation of its operations through the acquisition of three major fleets—NextGen Acelas for use on the Northeast Corridor (NEC), Airos for use on State-Supported corridors and the NEC, and new long-distance trains.

To support these new trains, the company launched its National Facilities program, a $4 billion initiative to upgrade maintenance facilities across its network. These upgrades are critical to ensuring the efficient operation and maintenance of the new equipment, reducing trip times, and increasing service frequencies. However, an audit by the Amtrak Office of Inspector General (OIG) found significant challenges in planning and managing this effort, which could hinder Amtrak’s ability to fully deploy its new trains and capture projected revenue.

Key Findings

Delayed Facility Readiness: Amtrak has begun upgrading its maintenance facilities, but the OIG found that progress has been delayed due to planning and management shortcomings. Some facilities will not be ready when new trains enter service, forcing Amtrak to store equipment intermittently and potentially delaying revenue generation. For example, while NextGen Acela entered revenue service in August 2025 and Airo is scheduled to launch 2026, several major facilities will not be substantially complete until 2029–2031, creating a misalignment between fleet deployment and maintenance capacity. (It’s worth noting that the Next Gen Acelas were originally scheduled to enter revenue service in 2022.)

Incomplete Strategic Planning: The OIG audit argues that Amtrak’s facility planning has lagged behind fleet planning by approximately 15 years, despite their interdependence. Although Amtrak finalized a Strategic Fleet and Facilities Plan in November 2025, it still lacks critical elements such as:

• A complete inventory of facility projects.
• A timeline with milestones.
• A methodology for prioritizing upgrades and evaluating trade-offs.

This gap limits Amtrak’s ability to make informed decisions about long-term facility needs. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) raised similar concerns in 2024, urging Amtrak to adopt holistic planning processes to avoid repeating past mistakes.

Absence of a Management Framework: Amtrak is managing dozens of facility projects individually rather than as a coordinated program or portfolio, contrary to company and industry standards. Without an overarching management framework, the company risks inefficiencies and cost overruns. Key deficiencies include:

• Risk Management: No centralized risk register or process exists to identify and mitigate common risks across projects, such as site access constraints and underground conditions.
• Schedule Management: Amtrak lacks an integrated master schedule, relying instead on a high-level milestone tracker that omits critical elements like digital technology upgrades.
• Resource Management: There is no plan to allocate personnel resources across projects, limiting visibility into workforce challenges and increasing the risk of delays.

These shortcomings have led to fragmented oversight and inconsistent standards across facilities, such as variations in equipment and platform configurations.

Impact and Risks

The cumulative effect of inadequate planning and lack of coordination has resulted in misaligned schedules between fleet deliveries and facility readiness. Under current projections, Amtrak can operate only a limited number of new trainsets without additional maintenance capacity. Beyond that, the OIG warns, trains may sit idle, delaying service expansion and revenue capture. For example, the Airo fleet could exceed maintenance capacity intermittently during its first four years of service. Earlier strategic planning could have mitigated these risks.

Recommendations

The OIG issued two primary recommendations:

1. Finalize and implement a joint strategic fleet/facilities plan that defines goals, timelines, and next steps, includes an inventory of facilities, and establishes a method for prioritization and reassessment.
2. Develop and implement a management framework for facility upgrades, including a comprehensive management plan with risk, schedule, and resource management components.

Amtrak Strategy and Planning officials told the OIG’s office they had not completed the facility strategy because of funding uncertainties. To be fair, the boom-and-bust cycles of federal funding presents inherent difficulties in managing large capital expenditure programs. However, maintenance of equipment has been a consistent problem for Amtrak, and one would reasonably expect the integration of maintenance facilities into any fleet renewal planning.

Amtrak management ultimately concurred with the OIG’s recommended actions and committed to:

• Completing detailed strategies for fleet acquisition, facility development, and funding by June 30, 2026.
• Establishing a management framework with risk management tools, including a centralized risk register, by March 31, 2026.