Introducing the New Amtrak Airo Trains 

I like the door design -- Amtrak is going for a clean European look; it looks like these will be plug doors, which are not common on American passenger trains. The red-white-blue scheme is fantastic, and will get a lot of attention.

These kind of look like the new Canada Via Rail train sets. It's really nice to see Amtrak join the 21st century. I rode the Amtrak San Joaquin earlier this year and it was a very nice ride. I agree with you. I love trains with color. I really loved the CTA L cars that were done up in the vintage green/cream livery. Those were beautiful.

Siemens is a great company and boy these are long overdue! So glad America is finally taking train travel seriously. Amtrak needed a huge upgrade and hopefully it can be profitable but it should be subsidized and I don't think it should be strictly profits

It feels like we are returning back to the era of creating modern streamlined passenger trains.

Something like this was needed most of all on the northeast corridor, I feel like the new trains will make people more excited to take it. We’ll see how much the comfort level changes, as just a ride down to Washington on the Amfleet is not the most comfortable. Maybe they’ll also give several other great routes a boost

these really are the exact kind of refresh that Amtrak needs, particularly in the Northeast. Cannot WAIT to get on the Keystone Service or the NER at 30th Street Station and see one of these pull up. I'll miss the tin cans a bit (I've grown really fond of stainless steel American trains) but there's definitely plenty of those to go around still.

I liked the Venture car seats when I rode the Brightline. That was the nicest train I've ever been on.

Hopefully that means these sets will also show up on the Heartland Flyer between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. The Superliner cars on that route seem to be a little overkill for such a small route and the Airo sets would be a much better fit.

I like that the armrests between the seats have been restored! 😊

Thanks for the update Thom - I fully agree re the new livery looks 'awesome'. It will be interesting to see if Amtrak will stick with the artist's impression for the new interiors? Great to see dual capabilities - provide a much quicker & smoother transition as well as improved travel time. I also like the livery for the proposed new Cascade trains. In relation to the name Airo I could only find that it is a Greek word meaning 'lifted up' or 'exalted'. As they say 'it's all Greek to me"..

Thom, I watched both Amtrak’s Airo video and yours. Your video is more informative than Amtrak’s, plus your video hit RU-vid an hour earlier than Amtrak’s, the time stamps say. Good job!

These look amazing. But I'll admit I'm perplexed about the battery varient. The Empire Service, my home line, is definitely busy enough to warrant real electrification at least NYP-ALB in phase one. Any equipment would have to work on both OCS and the NYC 700 volt Underunning third-rail from Spuyten Duyvl to Croton-Harmon But there's so many upsides to more electrification from performance, lineside noise, the environment and lighter equipment that's easier on the track. I hope those in power really consider real electrification for more Amtrak corridors over the next few years. I like the dual-mode pantograph-diesel-electric ones though. They could allow Amtrak and its state-partners to phase in OCS where funding and the will and imagination are, at least on publicly owned trackage and then use the diesel-mode to bridge the gaps.

Great news for Amtrak. As you know, VIA Rail will be introduce its own Siemens sets - but recently Ontario Northland also ordered three sets

Thank you Thom! Can't wait to see and experience these trains in person! I'll obviously have to wait a bit!

Very nice! I kinda get the vibe that the new train reminds me of the X2000 from the 1990's testing. One power unit on one end and the other end is a cab coach like the X2000. I think it's a brilliant idea! I complemented this to Amtrak via social media and they said, "A classic feel combined with modern comforts."

These new trains look good, more along the lines of trains I am more used to in the UK. As much as I enjoy using Amtrak there are things they could improve, but I do accept they are not helped by the fact they do not own most of the track they have to use and have to give way to freight traffic. Even so I hope to be able to use some of these newer trains on future trips to the US. I do like the double deck Metra and Amtrak trains, it is something we never seen in the UK. I hope you can do videos in the UK one day to go alongside your Dutch and Japanese videos. There is so much history on the London Underground / Tfl. We do not have the truly long distance trains Amtak have but we have 2 sleeper services from London, either upto Scotland or down to my home region of Devon & Cornwall. There is something very distinctive about the whistle / bells used on American trains. Just hearing the sound on your videos reminds me of trips to Chicago and Boston. Look forward to watching more of your videos.

Thank you for this wonderful news ! The new livery is stunning, and I can’t wait to see a complete rake of these carriages running into Baltimore and Washington D.C !

I’m glad Amtrak is finally getting some nicer looking cars and locos, the old ones don’t look bad necessarily but these new one are so much more modern and just look more on par with the equipment in Europe and Asia

really excited to see these come to north carolina. i think seeing such a futuristic looking train pull into raleigh union station will really catch some eyes and entice people to consider train travel

Looks great…so great to see a much better paint design one that is colorful, bright and cheerful!!!!

Those Airo sets look awesome, Thanks for the info

Excellent video Thom, very informative and this is a massive step forwards for Amtrak! 🥰

Awesome video! I can't wait to see these trains in action!

awesome new sub thx for the update.😊😊👍👍

Thanks for the info!

Thanks for showing the Kalamazoo train station.

Reminds me of the mark 5 sets used on Transpennine Express in the UK

These trainsets are just beautiful

I can imagine what the overnight services would bring us.

Thanks!

4:03 These seats look pretty similar to those used on the ICE 4 or those on the upcoming ICE L, at least based on their back- and headrests shape ^^ I'm very excited to see more about the Airos overall, not really sure what to think of the C-sets tho, why not just use 3rd rail or install catenary? Anyway, great to see some progress for you guys overseas and greetings from Germany!

Terrific video and news!

I can't wait to see these trains. They look so cool. Amtrak really needs more colorful trains. I want to be an Amtrak conductor one day, and hopefully I get to be a conductor on these new trains.

1:40I actually went on the RailJet three years ago and when I saw these new Amtrak trains, I thought,"Hey, they seem to have done the same thing as they did to the RailJet"!

When these awesome train sets enter service in 2025 I might ride one, The horn should still be a K5LA

Amtrak has revealed new trainsets to replace their outdated passenger cars. They're called the Airo. They are getting another colorful era.

My guess on the "Airo" is that it harkens back to Amtrak's old "arrow" logo... and to their current ARROW ticketing system. Still, if you can do push-pull and not swap engines, even better.

Amtrak is better off helping the MTA to adding more tracks and 3rd rail between Penn Station to near by Spuyten Duyvil and Croton-Harmon to Albany. MTA Metro North's Hudson Line can be extended from it's current terminal Poughkeepsie to Albany. Afterwards adding AC electricity or DC over wire electricity.

A - Amtrak I - Intercity R - Regional O - Overcrowding

I'm so happy this is finally happening because a lot has to be changed

Nice

Thom: A few hours ago I read an article about the new train sets in the online Washington Post. I wondered whether you were aware of the Amtrak announcement and, not to my surprise, you were right on top of it. I don’t know why they are called Airo. Coincidentally, they share a name, albeit a different spelling, with the Eero trains at Dulles Airport that were named after Eero Saarinen, the architect who designed Dulles. On another subject, you may have noticed the “missing tooth” in the Northern Virginia section of the Washington Metro map. As a longtime DC resident, I can tell you the story behind that. I haven’t seen a video on Metro where I could post the latter, so if there is a way I can communicate directly with you, please let me know. Many thanks for all your wonderful videos!

This is so exiting

These New Trains Look Amazing In My Opinion. The Exterior And Interior Looks Awesome. I Can’t Wait For These To Enter Service In 2025.

I'm going to pop my Parliament hat on and make a few points of order. - AIRO I can only assume since nothing in the Oxford English Dictionary points towards it is a makers/operators brand for the new units. Siemens seem to have this o suffix thing going on with Desiro, Desiro City going on. - as for RailJet it's actually a shared brand used across central Europe mainly but push/pull loco Driving carriages/DVT (Driving Van Trailors) are common across Europe from Ireland towards the Eastern curtain. The concept of having a diesel motor car and an electric pantograph on another is not uncommon but I guess since the Amfleet design goes back to the Penn Central Metroliners of the 1960's this will appear to be quite revolutionary. My intercity has pantographs on the loco (driving car) at each end with diesel generating motors under the passenger cars. Of course the idea of just hooking up to the juice wire is good in theory but there will have to be enough juice in the wire to service existing and new services. Why some GB Bi-Modes still operate diesel under the wire until power supply upgrades are done. As regard the seats. It's like a new bed or a sofa. The old stuff was nicely worn in. The new stuff is still a bit firm on the back and backside. Also I don't know if the same crash and impact assessment apply to Amtrak than in the EU but seat design has had to change to allow for accident safety.

I doubt it's really a factor in why they're already allocating new sets to the Downeaster (as opposed to just replacing the aging Amfleet Is), but an interesting thought at least is that if Boston ever does build the North South Rail Link, I'd venture (no pun intended) a guess that Amtrak will either make the Downeaster a northern extension of some Regional trains, or at least through run it to NYC as kind of a New England version of the Keystone.

Sounds fitting they would recieve the first few batches right before FIFA 2026.

I still can’t wrap my head around why Amtrak thought putting battery tenders on Empire Corridor trains was a better idea than electrifying the Empire connection, which there are plans to do anyway to get Hudson line trains into Penn Station, and should be done regardless!

AIRO, Amtrak intercity rapid operation, maybe?

Maybe Amtrak will help MBTA with electrification - Maura Healey (our incoming Governor) has talked about electrifying commuter rail here.

These are nice trains. I just don't understand why the electrical equipment is in a coach instead of the locomotive.

Seems like they named the B and C series backwards. B should be the battery trains, C should be catenary trains, and then D for diesel.

i hope the hybrid design means we can see more electrifed lines where amtrak or the states owns the rail.

It makes sense to do something similar that reviewers say is one of the best intercity and best sleeper trains in all of Europe.

Airo comes from the Greek which means to lift. And I cannot wait either. Hopefully we won't have any of the issues on the east coast that they seem to be having in the midwest.

Those old Am Fleet cars send them to Arizona so we can use them for starter trains on the route from Phoenix to Tucson.

Honestly multiple units are proably a good idea

I think the C-Series ALC-42E will also have third rail shoes built in the locomotive itself as well, so they can be used to pull Long Distance Amtrak Trains (Like the LakeShore Limited) into Penn Station, to replace the P32AC-DMs on that service

Great!

Thom - Do you think the long distance (i.e., sleeper) trains will get some sort of variant of these? Thanks for the updates!

I wish I could see them on the Hiawatha

This time Train set is beautiful as well as the old acela I can't say too much about the dolphin face not matching train set. What would have been nice is if the whole entire amtrak network was electrified.

Where is the press conference available?

LOL never clicked on a video so fast. they look like the Via Rail corridor trains. this will make the historic engine change in DC useless.

Interesting. Why (excluding phenomenal expense) has electrification not been extended through to Florida? I'm being Devil's Advocate here. BUT, isn't most of Europe electrified?

They should throw one on the heartland flyer, i mean its got one loco on both ends because they can’t turn it around, so the airo would replace it perfectly

It would seem practical to use the B1 dual power train set with long distance services running the NE route…ie Silver Meteor/Star, Crescent, and Cardinal. That way they wouldn’t need to change engines in Washington DC. This would save time. Maybe you can explain Amtrak’s logic here.

Are there gonna be some other upgrades for some other services besides the ones that where included for this video

This will not affect long distance services that need to have locomotive replacements in Washington DC Philadelphia 30th Street and New Haven Union Station the Vermonter to St Albans, VT historic Terminus of the route Montreal Quebec.

Hi I'm New. Do you have any videos talking about the Amtrak expansion in Tennessee

It's like in Switzerland where the control car has the same front design like the locomotive. I live in germany but control cars belongs here to the extinct Species.

I see Amtrak is still reluctant to do all electrification. At least most if not all of the tin cans will finally be replaced with a more modern fleet.

Does this mean the Sprinter ACS-64’s will no longer be needed and sold since the Airo train sets will have Phantographs?

It would be cooler if they used the existing trains to pilot new routes/ expand the network (even if it’s just additional frequency) since they have the maintenance ability and a fleet of cars and trains. Amtrak should use Tampa as a FL hub and run inter city service to Orlando, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami and Pensacola/ maybe New Orleans? Since Tampa is a “back in station” and it’s a large city it would make a ton of sense to run trains to all over the state if they’re fast enough and frequent. if Amtrak made deals with freight companies by adding tracks and maybe even electric wires so Acela trains can compete with brightline. there is enough people realistically to keep both services alive for locals or tourist’s if the stations have direct links to all commercial airports in FL.

Die AIRO rijtuigen lijken bizar veel op de Railjet rijtuigen

Thats great to hear that, these new trains are coming out, I gotta say the liveries are much needed though. Sometimes being in tin cans kinda blends in what California is, but tbh I would love to see these trains in California more though, Or at least clean them to give a nicer livery!

I would of preferred more talgo trains for the cascades.

im confused i thought the cascades service got new train sets (or at least new locos) only very recently can someone explain what's happening?

Will the Silver Service have a new Amtrak fleet with Airo?

When is this trainset going to start rolling on the San Joaquin?

My prediction A - Amtrak I - Intercity R - Rail O - I have no clue

I wish I knew the DC to Richmond, Springfield line were electrified ESPECIALLY soon Lackawanna servicebut even when Amtrak are showing of new Airo train which is Definitely COOL but electrification is more important since most of the line in US are Diesel and I'm not gonna faulting on the new AIRO trains since they have dual mode, the lines like Hartford line and DC to Richmond owned by Amtrak/State, NOT class 1 feight, its lot more easier to PUT UP THE WIRES since it's a lot easier even with AIRO train that has overhead wire in it( that's another advantage of New Airo since you can easily swap out diesel electric) , countries like India are fully electrified, even Europe, Japan, or even China, even less known like Egypt wanted to electrified their network, US definitely need to catch up Europe/East Asian countries for Great Rail network, not just HSR but also improving Conventional line.

Are those NY battery packed trains going to be full hybrid?

i like desl betr becuz it smoc and smoc cool so ye

Why is there a need for D sets ? A, B, and C should be sufficient. Batteries can still be useful outside the northeast.

AIRO: Amtrak Intercity Rail Operations?

AIRO Amtrak Inter Regional Operations.

Wait…does that mean the P32s will get scrapped?!? 3:04

So I guess both these will be diesel and electric?? Also with the long distance passenger trains will they still look like the normal Amtrak ones we have today? Those will remain diesel right? Will those long distance passenger trains still be around? Everything should remain diesel because it is the most efficient fuel source that replaced steam.

I cant believe that the ACS-64's will gone very quick

these will be used in bostonand bigger cities

I'm just baffled that they don't electrify that tiny little bit of Penn Access needed for the empire corridor trains, and rather invest in an entirely different type of train with batteries exclusively for this! Just seems expensive and cumbersome, and not at all good for flexibility.

My biggest question is will they also replace the long distance amfleet cars on trains like the silver metro.

This makes me wonder why people don't seem to complain about Brightline's Venture Coach seats. Maybe Brightline knows something Amtrak and IDOT doesn't. Is Amtrak taking inspiration From Florida? I kinda think so.

Siemens makes the best trains.

AMTRAK Diet Siemens trainsets look like the Via Rail 5 car sets with the SC-42 and cab cat. ALSO note that Ontario Northlands Railroad in Northern Ontario will be getting three sets of their own replacing 50 year d equipment with Siemenc trains

They are correct about the seats on the venture cars on the Midwest lines. I rode the Lincoln to Chicago from Saint Louis and I was in agony there and back. They are so hard and terrible on your backside lol. They really need to do something about the seats.

Hi

These going to be in California too?

Does anyone know if the venture cars tilt in curves? I believe that because the Talgo train sets tilted in curves, they allowed higher speeds especially in Washington State where the track curves around the Puget Sound, and that was why they chose Talgo to begin with.