A new Airo train set arrives in Albany Thursday on a test run from Seattle to Eugene and back.
A small crowd of rail fans greeted the first of Amtrak’s new “Airo” train sets in Albany today.
Here’s the scene:
The train is one of eight Amtrak plans to use in the Cascades Service between Vancouver, BC, and Eugene, via Seattle and Portland.
The first of the trains made a test run on the leg from Seattle to Eugene and back today.
If there were any passengers aboard, I didn’t see them.
Amtrak contracted for 83 Airo train sets, to be used all across the country, according to published reports. The trains are built by Siemens Mobility in Sacramento and North Carolina.
Google AI estimates the cost to be about $46 million per train.
Amtrak is buying the eight trains for the Cascades Service. Washington State owns the locomotives and is buying two more for a total of 10.
Each train has a capacity of about 300 seats. The trains also feature an array of amenities, from on-board wifi to upgraded cafe cars.
The Cascades Service had been using older Horizon trains that were withdrawn in March 2025 because some had developed corrosion problems. The service has used other Amtrak passenger cars since then.
The service makes two daily round trips between Eugene and Portland. For the timing of the Albany stops, check Amtrak’s timetable here.
When can you buy a ticket for a ride on one of these new trains? ODOT expects the new equipment to enter revenue service after three trains have been delivered, some time this fall. (hh)
They just went past marvin’s garden & didn’t stop…..New York in 1930 would have had 2000 people get off & on….only 96 years ago..times change..
Thanks for the train news. Very interesting and much appreciated. ( However, it seems like we (the commenters) and you (the editor of your own blog) just stick our heads in the sand like ostriches when it comes to the fact that Trump has us in a War. We carry on as if it is business as usual. It’s not. American service men and women are dying in combat!!)
Leave your whining on someone else’s blog
Indeed. Thomas never, ever whines.
Thank you, John.
I’m going to try very hard not to comment on Hasso’s blog, but it isn’t because of your rude, mean, ignorant comment. Rather, it’s because I don’t appreciate Hasso printing your comment. I didn’t want you to think the “likes of a pi** ant” like you scared me away.
will there be a new train from seattle to sacramento soon ?
Well, we already have the Amtrak “Coast Starlight” that runs from Seattle to Los Angeles daily with a stop in Sacramento. And, many of those trains are running the newer Siemens locomotives like the one here on the Amtrak Cascades. So, they’re sort of new.
Though I haven’t seen any timeline for replacement, Amtrak is planning to replace the Superliner cars being used on the Coast Starlight and other long distance trains in the west. The current fleet is feeling its age. So eventually there will be new equipment.
Thank you, Hasso, for this treat. The new train looks gorgeous. Does it run any faster?
“…they’re not any faster than those they’ll supplant. But the new rail cars feature sleek interiors, grab-and-go food options and accessible designs for people with disabilities.”
If you’re not quoting the author of the article, then it is proper to say/credit where you’re getting the quote from.
I posed the question to the web and all the answer said was that it was sourced from an “AI overview.”