Amtrak Receives $2.45 Billion Federally Secured Loan for New Acela Trains

"This loan is a key step to providing investments needed to help keep high speed trains moving throughout the region, and to help all commuters in the Northeast Corridor," Vice President Biden said. "We need these kinds of investments to keep this region – and our whole country – moving, and to create new jobs."

It is the largest loan made by the U.S. Department of Transportation, financed through the Federal Rail Administration's Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing program. 

The trains are named "Avelia Liberty, the latest development of Alstom’s high-speed train range Avelia," according to Alstom. "The new trainset will be able to carry up to 33% more passengers than the current Acela trains."

Another key feature is the train’s articulated architecture, which provides greater stability and passenger comfort while enhancing safety. The train also includes Alstom’s innovative Tiltronix anticipative tilting technology, which allows the train to manoeuvre curves safely and more comfortably at high speeds.

"Officials said about $2 billion would be spent on the new trains," reports Michael D. Shear, White House correspondent for The New York Times. "The rest of the loan will be used to upgrade several stations, including those in New York and Washington, and to improve track reliability and safety."

Anthony R. Coscia, Amtrak’s chairman, said the railroad service was “responding to a change in the United States of people moving into the cities, of people looking for city-to-city connections.”

The trains will be manufactured at Alstom's Hornell, N.Y plant, which comes as "no surprise," reports William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief for Railway Age, due to  Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) very public visit [there] on Sept. 21, 2015. Vantuono adds that station and track improvements "will benefit both Acela Express riders and other Amtrak and regional commuter rail passengers."