Amtrak sidelines Horizon car fleet, leading to widespread cancellations (updated)

CHICAGO — Amtrak trains on several routes have been cancelled after the company removed its fleet of Horizon passenger cars from service because of concerns over corrosion, raising the possibility of long-term service disruptions.

In a statement issued at 9 a.m. today (March 26, 2025), the company said, “We discovered corrosion in several Horizon railcars and, while working with the manufacturer, decided to remove the equipment from service after learning of additional areas of concern from intensive inspections of multiple cars. The removal of this equipment from service will affect services on several routes: Downeaster, Hiawatha, Borealis, and Amtrak Cascades. Some trains, such as the Downeaster, will operate with fewer cars, while other services will be provided substitute transportation until a long-term plan is developed.”

A total of 70 cars — 61 coaches and nine food-service cars — are affected. They are the active fleet from a group of 104 cars ordered from Bombardier — now part of Alstom — in 1988, with delivery completed by 1990. Those cars are based on Comet commuter rail cars built for NJ Transit and its predecessors. The key difference is that the Horizon cars have end vestibules while the commuter cars use a center door for entry and exit.

In the Pacific Northwest, 26 cars were sidelined, leading to the cancellation of all but one of the seven daily round trips for the Cascades in the Vancouver, British Columbia-Seattle-Portland-Eugene, Ore., corridor. The single round trip continuing to operate will be a Seattle-Eugene, Ore., round trip — trains Nos. 503 and 508 — using the Cascades’ lone operable Talgo trainset; a second such Series 8 train has been sidelined since November after striking a tree during a storm. [see “Amtrak deals with Cascades mechanical woes …,” Trains News Wire, March 24, 2025].

The Washington State Department of Transportation said in a statement that buses had been secured to substitute for the trains through March 30. Beyond that, the statement said, “Amtrak is determining how to replace the grounded Horizon trains by redistributing other trains in its national fleet. Amtrak will notify the states of Washington and Oregon as soon as a plan is in place to move replacement trains to the Pacific Northwest.

Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, operator of the Downeaster, said in an email to Trains News Wire that the train had been operating for several months with one Horizon car and three Amfleet cars. “I was informed last night that the Horizons were being pulled from the service immediately due to the corrosion issue,” Quinn wrote. “Effective today, Downeaster service is operating five round trips daily with three Amfleet coaches in each consist.”

Today’s Borealis has been cancelled in both directions between Chicago and St. Paul, Minn., according to the train status feature on Amtrak’s website, with alternate bus transportation provided because of “equipment unavailability.” Those trains have mostly operated with Horizon coaches along with an Amfleet cafe car, although some recent service has seen substitution of a Superliner trainset. Three of the six Hiawatha round trips between Chicago and Milwaukee have also been cancelled with a bus substitution. The Hiawatha fleet has included a mix of Siemens Venture, Horizon, and Amfleet cars.

At Chicago Union Station this afternoon, passengers expecting to board one of the cancelled Hiawatha trains were directed to a “bus coordinator” for information, then lined up inside the station’s Great Hall before boarding buses waiting outside on Jackson Boulevard.

While some internet discussion of the situation has indicated a Federal Railroad Administration order was involved, the removal of the cars from service was an Amtrak decision, an FRA spokesman told News Wire. An Alstom spokesman said the company is referring all questions to Amtrak.

— Updated at 12:25 p.m. CT with number of cars involved; updated at 12:36 p.m. with information from Washington State Department of Transportation. Revised to reflect later information at 12:53 p.m. Updated with new photos and additional information at 4:48 p.m. Correspondent Bob Johnston contributed to this report.