Beech Grove, IN (May 2, 2021) - Two storage buildings were heavily damaged by a large fire at the Amtrak Maintenance Facility located at 202 Garstang Street in Beech Grove early Sunday morning. The fire was under control in 1 hour, 22 minutes.
Photo: Indianapolis Fire Department
Beech Grove police first reported the fire just after 12:30 a.m. in the corrugated buildings. When firefighters arrived, they did not find a working hydrant inside the facility, they had to run hoses from Emerson Avenue and used tankers to get water on the buildings.
— Indianapolis Fire Department 🚒 (@IFD_NEWS) May 2, 2021
Both buildings, which housed paint and cleaning supplies, eventually collapsed. Hazardous materials investigators said runoff from the fire tested neutral. Nobody was hurt.
Beech Grove, IN (March 19, 2021) - Amtrak fans across the country may soon spot a few freshly painted locomotives featuring new anniversary logos rolling down the tracks as America’s Railroad® celebrates 50 years of service this year.
The first of six different commemorative 50th anniversary locomotives has already entered service on the national network.The first of which, P42 #46 in “Phase V 50th,” has already entered service on Amtrak’s national network.
Amtrak trains are being painted to mark 50 years of service. Image courtesy of Amtrak
Each P42 locomotive is being painted and overhauled at the Amtrak Beech Grove shops in Beech Grove, Ind., rolling out over the coming months and entering service across the national network. Employees will also ensure that these locomotives are maintained to high performance and safety standards.
ALC-42 #301 is currently being manufactured by Siemens in Sacramento, Calif. and is expected to be delivered in April to undergo testing in the Northeast Corridor before entering service on the national network.
Among the six locomotives, you can expect to find the following paint jobs:
P42 #46 in “Phase V 50th” — Amtrak’s standard livery for the past two decades, with a special slogan commemorating the company’s 50 years in business;
P42 in “Midnight Blue” — A new paint scheme celebrating the dedication of employees;
P42 in “Phase VI” — The first adaption of the latest Amtrak livery phase on a P42;
P42 in “Phase I” – A rendition of Amtrak’s first-ever livery phase, dating to 1972;
P42 in “Dash 8 Phase III” — The design made for the Dash 8 fleet in the early 1990s, adapted for the first time to a P42 locomotive; and
ALC-42 #301 in “Day 1” scheme — A recreation of the design used for the first day of Amtrak operations on May 1, 1971. Painted on Amtrak’s newest locomotive.
“We chose locomotives already budgeted for new paint as part of our life cycle preventative maintenance program and used the opportunity to celebrate this significant milestone on the most iconic component of our business,” said Amtrak President Stephen Gardner.“The locomotive designs uniquely honor our heritage and our vision of connecting communities, economies and families nationwide.”
Amtrak began service with 184 trains a day on May 1, 1971. The first train departed New York City for Philadelphia shortly after midnight that day. Amtrak continues to prepare for the future. It is completing renovations and expansion at D.C.’s Union Station that will double the station’s concourse capacity. It will take delivery of new, faster Acela trains in 2022.
Amtrak’s long-term goal is tripling passenger capacity and doubling train capacity over the next 20 years.
Washington, D.C. (September 15, 2020) - Amtrak President William Flynn has told members of Congress that the company needs a $4.9 billion appropriation for fiscal 2021 to avoid employee furloughs and reduced long-distance train frequencies planned for October.
Flynn, Rail Passengers Association President and CEO Jim Mathews, and labor officials representing the Transport Workers Union and Transportation Communications Union testified Tuesday at the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Rail Subcommittee hearing titled, “Amtrak’s response to COVID-19.”
Amtrak CEO William Flynn testifies during Wednesday's online House hearing on Amtrak's response to COVID-19.
Amtrak declined to provide the figure needed to avoid the job and service cuts to Capitol Hill staffers until late last week, despite requests from elected officials in June [see “Senators seek more details on Amtrak service, job cuts,” Trains News Wire June 29, 2020.
That drew sharp criticism in the opening statement from subcommittee chairman Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) for “just now submitting their amended FY21 supplemental request to Congress less than one month before the current fiscal year expires and Amtrak plans to implement these furloughs.”
If Senate and House conferees don’t come up with the $4.9 billion (which includes the $2 billion Amtrak originally asked for in its annual Grant and Legislative Request in February), Flynn told Lipinski that with a “cash burn at nearly $250 million a month right now, we would have to make very dramatic reductions across the company to stave off bankruptcy.” He added that this would include “substantial reduction in all services and perhaps some elimination of some long-distance services if that’s the cash burn we’re having with no supplemental funding.”
In questioning from U.S. Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), Flynn repeated management’s previous assertions that in fiscal 2019, “we were generating a surplus on our Northeast Corridor — essentially a break-even level of operation in our state-supported network, but the operational subsidy fundamentally underpins the long-distance services. So the vast majority, if not all, of that subsidy, if we were to do it on a service line basis, would be on the long-distance service.”
Rail Passengers Association President and CEO Jim Mathews pushed back against Flynn and the assertion by Babin and four other GOP lawmakers that Amtrak is required to make a profit.
“It is not — it is only required to minimize subsidies,” Mathews said. “A conversation about (Amtrak) profit ignores the benefit that communities receive.” In his opening statement, he unveiled research that quantifies by long-distance route exactly what those benefits are.
The document lists the direct and indirect economic impact of daily service, and the negative effects when four of seven weekly departures are eliminated.
The model, developed by the Rail Passengers Association with the help of Transportation 4 America, contends that the cuts will result in a “$2 billion bomb on ‘Flyover Country.’” It is available here.
Other revealing exchanges during the session:
— Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) raised concerns about aspects of Amtrak’s accounting methodology, such as considering taxpayer-funded state payments as revenue and not including depreciation in operating results.
— Flynn said that there were no plans to furlough any employees at the Beech Grove Heavy Maintenance Facility, and in fact Amtrak had to hire essential workers after some employees decided to take the company-wide buyout offer.
— Acela lead service attendant Amy Griffin, who testified as Local 1460 president of the Transport Workers Union of America, recounted a July incident in which she had been ordered to continue working after a co-worker tested positive for COVID-19. She eventually was told to quarantine, but then was ordered back to work after 10 instead of 14 days by Amtrak’s medical staff because she showed no symptoms
— Flynn was criticized by several lawmakers for reinstating a 401K retirement plan company match for management beginning Oct. 1 at the same time it counted on receiving bailout money and was laying off 2,000 employees. He defended the decision because it helped the company retain personnel and would not agree to reverse it, but did say Amtrak would withdraw a communications Request For Proposal that allowed outsourced bidders to shift jobs offshore.
--Near the end of session, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) told Flynn, “I fully support using money you make on the north end of the Northeast Corridor to provide service to some of those rural areas — the ‘red’ states. Those lines don’t necessarily benefit my district but they benefit the country. … I hope you take very seriously the credibility that you will lose by engaging in these furloughs, and the representational damage that comes to Amtrak management. I’m asking you to reconsider that [because] it is not going to save the day.” Cutting 2000 employees, Lynch said, “is going to reduce service and spiral that bottom-line deficit. You’re going to lose the faith of members of Congress like me, who are behind you, because of this decision.”
Video of the entire 2 1/2 -hour hearing and links to the witnesses’ prepared testimony is below.
Amtrak’s Response to COVID-19
Subcommittee: Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials
Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Time: 11:00 AM
Beech Grove, Indiana (May 5, 2020) - In a letter dated April 30, Rail Passengers Association President Jim Mathews said, “Amtrak Guest Rewards points benefit will temporarily be suspended. We know this is a popular benefit, but we have to purchase these points, so it’s not a benefit we can responsibly continue to provide while revenues are down.”
Mathews also said the employees of the Association are working from home, memberships are down, and contributions are down. The production and mailing of the printed version of Passengers Voice newsletter will temporarily cease. Passengers Voice newsletter will still be available online and as a downloadable PDF, in both present and past editions.
The Association remains active, assuring that the CARES Act included funding for passenger rail - $1 billion for Amtrak and $16 billion for urban transit systems, with another $4 billion dedicated to rural transit, according to Mathews. The Association conducted a Virtual Day on the Hill on March 31, connecting with 132 House offices and 53 Senate offices. Members of Congress asked for the Association’s help in identifying top priorities in rail transit.
Mathews testified before the Federal Railroad Administration to share the Association’s thoughts on the Metrics and Minimum Standards for Intercity rail transit.
Beech Grove, IN (December 10, 2019) — The passenger trains the state of Wisconsin ordered more than a decade ago are coming home, if only for a little while. An Amtrak spokesperson confirmed Monday the trains built by Spanish train manufacturer Talgo to run in Wisconsin are back at the company's maintenance facility in Milwaukee.
Talgo originally built the trains to run on Amtrak's Hiawatha line between Milwaukee and Chicago, but they were caught up in a legal battle that was born out of Wisconsin's high-speed rail debate.
The state purchased the trains in 2009 under the leadership of former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. The state of Wisconsin defaulted on the Talgo contract in 2012 after Republican lawmakers decided not to pay for their maintenance.
The state settled a lawsuit with Talgo in 2015. Under the terms of the agreement, Wisconsin paid Talgo $50 million and Talgo got to keep the trains. According to an analysis by the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office, the deal and subsequent settlement expenses cost the state about $59 million.
As reported by WPR's "Derailed" podcast, Talgo had been storing the trains at Amtrak's Beech Grove, Indiana, maintenance facility for the past five years while it searched for someone to buy or lease the trains.
The trains are being considered for use as interim equipment on Amtrak’s Cascades line through the Pacific Northwest, after a 2017 derailment on that line took several trains out of commission.
The Federal Railroad Administration granted Amtrak a waiver in November 2018 that would allow it to operate the trains, although Amtrak has yet to announce whether it will take that step.
Asked Monday about the movement of the Talgo trains, Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari released a statement that confirmed the trains are in Milwaukee but stopped short of confirming that they were headed to the Cascades line.
"The Talgo Series 8 rail equipment that had been stored at the Amtrak facility in Beech Grove, Ind., has been moved to the Talgo facility in Milwaukee," said the statement from Amtrak. "These train sets are among the interim equipment options being considered by Amtrak for use in the Pacific Northwest."
While these trains won't run in Wisconsin, Talgo still has a presence in downtown Milwaukee where it performs maintenance on train sets that run in California. The company announced earlier this year that it was expanding, growing its workforce from about 30 people to 90.
Nora Friend, Talgo's vice president of public affairs and business development, released a statement from the company Monday that hinted at where the trains could be headed next.
"Talgo is working with Amtrak to place the Series 8 train sets in service in the Pacific Northwest," the statement read. "They have been moved to Milwaukee for preparation of that service later next year."
Part of the reason the trains might be put into service on Amtrak's Cascades line through Oregon and Washington is that Talgo built two identical trains that are currently running on that line. Those trains were also built at the Milwaukee facility.
While the trains that were moved over the weekend were originally designed to run on the Hiawatha line, the Doyle administration hoped its deal with Talgo would make Milwaukee a Midwest rail manufacturing hub.
Doyle also hoped Talgo would build trains to run on a new high-speed passenger rail line connecting Milwaukee to Madison. That prospect seemed close to reality after Wisconsin was awarded $810 million to build the rail line as part of the 2009 federal stimulus bill.
