Amtrak celebrated the start of major construction on a new maintenance facility at Sunnyside Yard in Long Island City, New York.

The project will help prepare for the introduction of Amtrak's new Airo trainsets while improving maintenance operations that support millions of passenger trips across the Northeast each year.

“From this new maintenance facility to the East River Tunnel Rehabilitation Project and so many other projects, Amtrak is delivering transformative investments that are reshaping the future of passenger rail in New York,” said Amtrak Executive VP of Capital Delivery Laura Mason. “Together with our partners at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), we’re building the modern infrastructure needed to support our new Airo trains and deliver safer, more reliable service for decades to come.”

Amtrak’s Sunnyside Yard

As it opens in phases through 2030, the new maintenance facility will be used for daily inspections, service, cleaning, and more.

The investment will improve operational efficiency and working conditions while significantly speeding up train maintenance and reducing turnaround times. Work includes:

• Construction of a new two-track maintenance and inspection facility for major work.
• Construction of six new service and cleaning tracks. 
• Consolidation of commissary, employee workspace, material storage, and parking into a single location within the yard, including an efficient modular office compound.
• Bringing 11 existing service platforms to a state of good repair (required to clean/prepare trains for passenger service and store trainsets when not in operation).
• Other infrastructure upgrades to accommodate this work, including reconfiguration of two major interlockings and tracks connecting the yard to the Northeast Corridor (NEC).

The facility is being designed to support Amtrak's new Airo trainsets, which will replace passenger cars that have been in service for more than 50 years. The new trains will offer improved accessibility, greater comfort, enhanced reliability, and a more modern travel experience.

Benefitting Amtrak Customers

The investment will benefit millions of Amtrak customers across several East Coast routes slated to receive new Airo trainsets over the coming years:

• Northeast Regional service, including Amtrak Virginia and New Haven-Springfield-Greenfield trains.
• State Supported service, including Empire Service, Keystone Service, Maple Leaf, Vermonter, Ethan Allen Express, Adirondack, and Carolinian.
• Long Distance service, including Palmetto.

The new facility and improved service platforms will also be used to maintain or store NextGen Acela, Long Distance, and commuter trains that operate out of this yard.

A Glimpse of Amtrak’s Future

The new maintenance facility, crew base, and platform improvements represent a combined investment of over $1 billion, primarily funded by Congress through FRA-administered grants. FRA also recently announced $2.05 billion in funding for up to 43 additional trainsets beyond the 83 Airo trains currently on order.

Amtrak’s fleet modernization program includes more than 20 maintenance facility and rail yard upgrades across the network to prepare for the introduction of new Airo trainsets.

The Sunnyside Yard project is Amtrak’s fifth – and largest – major maintenance facility to advance into major construction over the past two years, following Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington, and Boston.

Rensselaer Yard, currently in design, is the sixth and final major maintenance facility planned for modernization under the program.

Several layover sites will also be built or renovated by Amtrak and its partners as part of this program. These smaller sites are located along existing routes where trains are cleaned, serviced, or stored, such as Albany and Niagara Falls, New York; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Burlington, Vermont.