OIG: Amtrak's initial fleet procurement requirements led to delay

Amtrak’s initial requirements for designs and amenities for its planned procurement of new long-distance trains complicated the procurement program and led to delays in its early stages, according to the Amtrak Office of Inspector General (OIG).

In a report issued this week, the OIG said it found that Amtrak’s requirements and a delay in incorporating feedback from train manufacturers resulted a seven-month delay.

The procurement program involves replacing the entire 765-car long-distance fleet over four phases, with the first phase replacing nearly 600 bilevel cars with up to $7 billion of Amtrak’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding. Given the program’s size, any further delays could impact Amtrak’s ability to accomplish other major capital projects and maintain its existing long-distance service, the OIG found.

Amtrak sent requests for information to car builders in December 2022 and July 2023, inquiring about experience with manufacturing bilevel coaches, sleepers, and food service cars; the number of car types that could be manufactured at one time; and experience building elevators on rail cars.

One car builder said it could produce each of the car types, but that delivering cars as a trainset would lead to capacity constraints and program delays. None of the car builders had experience producing elevators, the OIG reported.

In December 2023, after weighing the feedback against its own market research, Amtrak proceeded with a request for proposals (RFP) that included nine car types, with elevators to increase accessibility on two car types, pushing what car builders said was feasible, according to the report.

After receiving more car builder feedback, Amtrak in June 2024 amended its requirements in the RFP to reduce complexity and increase car builders’ flexibility. Amtrak now plans to ask builders to submit proposals for trainsets with fewer car types and will include the option to deliver individual cars that could be intermixed with the existing fleet, rather than an entire trainset. 

The OIG offered recommendations, which were accepted by Amtrak, for strengthening components of the procurement program management framework, including a review and clarification of stakeholder roles, responsibilities and authority for each stage of the program; filling senior management and program team vacancies; and updating the program’s risk register.

The full OIG report can be downloaded here.