Amtrak’s next-generation Acela program, already three years behind, risks further delays and higher costs because the manufacturer’s designs have not yet met federal safety standards and each nine-car train set it has produced has defects, according to a
report from the Amtrak Office of Inspector General.
The performance audit, which spanned November 2022 through August 2023 and was released on Tuesday, offered detailed critiques of how Amtrak and its vendor, Alstom, have managed the $2 billion effort to replace the Acela express trains that have run on the Northeast Corridor since 2000.
To take their place,
Amtrak ordered 28 Avelia Liberty high-speed train sets in 2016, and Alstom, a French multinational company, is building them in its Hornell, N.Y., factory.
The first of the new train sets were scheduled to go into service in May 2021, the report said. Now, the new Acelas are projected to begin carrying passengers in the second half of 2024, the report said — with the last train sets delivered about June 2025. There could be additional delays, the OIG report said.