USA: Start-up AmeriStarRail (ASR) has produced a concept design for its proposed AmeriStarliner fleet for state-owned national passenger operator Amtrak. The company set out the concept in January, with a detailed set of renderings of the rolling stock, compartments and seating arrangements. The developers are offering to supply up to 1,632 coaches between 2031 and 2040 under a public-private partnership. Amtrak has so far given priority to a different route for its long-distance fleet renewal.
AmeriStarRail describes itself as a passenger rail consultancy. One of its founders, Scott Spencer, previously worked at Philadelphia-area operator Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Its Senior Advisor, Paul Reistrup, was President of Amtrak from 1975 to 1978.
In January, AmeriStarRail wrote to Amtrak President Roger Harris proposing to replace the current long-distance fleet—the bi-level Superliner and the single-deck Amfleet and Viewliner—with a new standardised design. The letter set out the basic characteristics of the proposed rolling stock (branded AmeriStarliner) alongside a preliminary business case for its procurement.
The company says the concept is built around maximising passenger safety, comfort and capacity, improving operating efficiency, and minimising trainset complexity for manufacturing and maintenance. Operational capacity is targeted at a minimum of 200 passenger-km per train-km, taking into account headways determined by automatic block signalling.
The design would allow trainset capacity to be varied from 300 to 600 passengers. It supports forming dividing trains that separate into two trains partway along the route to different destinations, as well as on-route replacement of defective coaches.
Key features of the AmeriStarliner coaches
The concept envisages five coach types, including specialised and utility vehicles. The main passenger coaches—sleepers and seated—would be semi-articulated. Each would comprise four body sections of two types, supported by Jacobs bogies (except at the ends of the unit).
One of the possible AmeriStarliner formations (enlarge). Image: ASR
Beyond the semi-articulated configuration, the designers have built in two further significant departures from Amtrak’s current fleet.
1. A reduced overall height of 4,570 mm above top of rail (ATOR).This complies with the Plate B clearance gauge under Association of American Railroads (AAR) standards, which should allow the stock to run throughout the United States.
The existing Superliner bi-levels, at 4,930 mm ATOR, cannot operate on the Northeast Corridor between Boston, New York and Washington because of its restrictive tunnel profile. As a result, Amtrak’s long-distance services in the east—routes from New York and Boston to Chicago, Miami and New Orleans—run exclusively with single-deck coaches, while Superliner bi-levels are confined to routes west of Chicago. The universal clearance of the AmeriStarliner is presented as a key advantage: a single fleet would, ASR argues, simplify procurement and reduce maintenance and operating costs.
2. Full wheelchair accessibility across all coaches (except the utility vehicle) and step-free passage along the length of the trainset. Passage between units would be on the lower deck at low-floor level. Access to the high-floor area over the end bogies would be via transformable stair-lifts. Step-free boarding by fold-out ramp would be possible both from low and medium-height platforms (200 mm and 560 mm under AAR standards) through central vestibules in the low-floor zone, and from high platforms (1,220 mm) through end vestibules above the bogies.
Four-unit semi-articulated SlumberCoach seating coach
Floorplan of the semi-articulated SlumberCoach (enlarge). Image: ASR
The 80.5 m coach would seat 150 passengers in a 1+2 layout within partially enclosed single and double cabins. A single cabin is 76 cm wide and a double cabin 152 cm, with a pitch of 203 cm. Seats recline electrically to a fully flat position. Groups of three to seven seats at the ends of the upper deck are separated by sliding doors and intended for families and other groups travelling together. On the lower deck, two cabins are adapted for wheelchair users.
Possible seating arrangements in the SlumberCoach (enlarge). Image: ASR
Layout of the cabins in the SlumberCoach (enlarge). Image: ASR
By comparison, current Superliner coaches are fitted with 2+2 seating at a pitch of 127–132 cm, and the seatbacks recline through only a limited angle. The AmeriStarliner concept therefore offers a considerably higher level of comfort, but at the cost of significantly lower capacity. Three Superliner II coaches at a slightly shorter overall length of 77.7 m provide 234 seats — 56% more.
Four-unit semi-articulated Sleeper coach
Floorplan of the semi-articulated Sleeper coach (enlarge). Image: ASR
Several sleeping compartment layouts have been developed. The base class is the two-berth Roomette, with longitudinal two-tier berths and a central corridor. Unlike current Amtrak sleeping cars, however, each Roomette would have its own en-suite WC.
Layout of the two-berth Roomette compartments (enlarge). Image: ASR
The higher class is the Bedroom, a multi-purpose compartment for up to four passengers with a private WC and shower. Each would have a convertible two-seat sofa-bed measuring 183 × 152 cm when extended. One of the upper fold-down berths would be 183 cm long, the other shortened to 152 cm. Two lower-deck Bedrooms would be adapted for wheelchair users.
The third compartment type is the six-berth Drawing Room. These would be positioned at the ends of the upper deck, occupying the full width of the coach. The layout would broadly mirror the four-berth Bedroom, with the addition of two side upper and lower berths.
Layout of the four- and six-berth Bedroom compartments (enlarge). Image: ASR
A four-unit coach would contain 36 Roomettes, 12 Bedrooms (two of them accessible) and four Drawing Rooms, giving a maximum capacity of 144 passengers. This is marginally more than the 132 berths across three current Superliner sleeping coaches.
Specialised and utility coaches
The other types of coaches will have a traditional construction on two two-axle bogies. ‘Recreational’ carriages (the dining and SkyView Observation coaches) will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), featuring such amenities as lifts and fold-out ramps. These coaches will have different lounge areas, dedicated children’s play spaces, cafés, restaurants, compact performance spaces, and also private dining rooms for exclusive events.
Design of specialised coaches (enlarge). Image: ASR
In addition, the trainset is supposed to have a utility carriage for a diesel-generator electrical power distribution system and a storage space for large-size luggage.
All types of the Ameriliner passenger coaches are suggested to have windows in roof slopes, while the SkyView Observation and dining carriages will feature an entirely transparent dome. The dome and other glazing will be fitted with electro-chromatic ‘smart’ glass, which allows for regulating window opacity according to passengers’ wishes.
The authors of the project note that the visualisations are not a ready design but only a draft. The detailed technical and operational specifications are subject to design, engineering and commercial considerations.
It is worth noting that some of the offered solutions cast doubt over whether they could be realised. In particular, ROLLINGSTOCK’s experts do not know other bi-level coaches with a stepless passage on a lower level. To provide this, a coach is likely to be based on special low-frame bogies, which may also have an axle-free design. Plus, the bogies must support a high axle load (not less than 20 tf) and comply with the requirements of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), which are some of the most exacting in the world. Thus, the proposed construction would demand rather sophisticated technical solutions, never before applied in the global railway industry.
Business project
AmeriStarRail’s representatives state that they are negotiating with one car builder and have a non-disclosure agreement, which provides for the delivery of 510 single and articulated coaches (1,020 sections in total) to form 85 trainsets.
The startup also claims that if it signs a contract with Amtrak before the end of 2026, the first AmeriStarliner train will be supplied by late 2031, with the following coaches delivered at the rate of 204 units per year over five years. AmeriStarRail proposes to found a joint venture with Amtrak and attract private financing for additional orders. By 2040, it suggests producing up to 1,632 rolling stock units to support the national operator’s plans to double its long-distance passenger service.
It should be mentioned that since 2019, AmeriStarRail has come up with several ideas on the development of high-speed passenger transportation with the Acela trains and also on the launch of a long-distance transcontinental train New York–Los Angeles. All the proposals have been rejected.
Current plans of Amtrak
The national operator has not commented on the AmeriStarliner project. Meanwhile, in late February, Amtrak announced it abandoned the procurement of the new-generation bi-level coaches, as planned before. The decision was reportedly reasoned by the company’s analytical research on complexities associated with operating a heterogeneous fleet. The national operator also took into account car builders’ feedback received in the course of gathering preliminary proposals in 2023–2024 and results from a joint concept review by Amtrak and FRA. According to US media, it was an ADA-compliant inter-coach gangway that was considered the most challenging thing to implement, as it would require lifts between lower and upper levels.
In April, Amtrak has launched the procurement of 800 single-level coaches for the long-distance fleet. Amtrak thus plans to standardise its whole fleet, moving from bi-level to single-level coaches. The new rolling stock will replace Superliner I and II bi-level cars, built between 1975 and 1996, on 14 routes.
Bi-level Superliner coaches. Image: HawkinsRails
Meanwhile, Amtrak is renewing its fleet of day trains. Siemens Mobility has been awarded an order for 708 single-level Venture coaches, which will mainly operate as part of push-pull trains hauled by the German manufacturer’s Charger locomotives. The rolling stock production is localised at the Siemens Sacramento site and the new plant in Lexington.
Other similar projects
Other countries are also in search of solutions for how to increase economic efficiency of long-distance trains. Several years ago, the Russian Consortium of Centres for Economic Programmes and Strategies developed an analogue concept of a bi-level articulated coach with a Jacobs bogie between two sections. In 2024, Škoda Group also introduced its project under the name Sleep in Motion. The Czech manufacturer proposed a train consisting of articulated single-axle bi-level coaches with gangways on both lower and upper levels.
All the three concepts have the same intentions: to increase passenger capacity through bi-level construction and reduce maintenance costs by means of fewer axles and an articulated design. They also feature a tendency for space personalisation, which is achieved with the help of cabin accommodation in budget class and private toilets in each compartment in sleeper coaches.
