Amtrak breaks ground on NYC maintenance facility

Amtrak on Aug. 28 marked the start of major construction on a new maintenance facility at its Sunnyside Yard in Long Island City, New York. The facility will help Amtrak prepare for the introduction of its Airo trainsets and improve maintenance operations.

The new facility will be used for daily inspections, service and cleaning. It will improve operational efficiency and working conditions while speeding up train maintenance and reducing turnaround times, Amtrak officials said in a press release.

The facility is designed to support the Airo trainsets, which will be introduced on Northeast Regional and state-supported routes in the next few years. The new facility and improved service platforms will also be used to store and maintain NextGen Acela, Long Distance and commuter trains that operate out of the yard, Amtrak officials said.

Work includes the construction of a new two-track maintenance and inspection facility for major work; six new service and cleaning tracks; and the consolidation of commissary, employee workspace, material storage and parking into a single location. Other infrastructure upgrades to the yard will include state-of-good-repair upgrades to 11 existing service platforms and reconfiguration of two major interlockings and tracks connecting the yard to the Northeast Corridor (NEC), Amtrak officials said.

The new facility will open in phases through 2030.

The new maintenance facility, crew base and platform improvements represent a combined investment of over $1 billion, primarily funded through Federal Railroad Administration grants. 

The Sunnyside Yard project is Amtrak’s fifth and largest major maintenance facility to advance into major construction over the past two years, following facilities in Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and Boston. Rensselaer Yard, currently in design, is the sixth and final major maintenance facility planned for modernization under the program.