NY: Amtrak sues MTA over use of tracks for testing new Acela trains

Amtrak is suing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority over repeatedly denying Amtrak the use of its Metro-North tracks in New York and Connecticut to move and test its new high-speed Acela trains before they go into service up and down the East Coast.

The MTA owns the train tracks that Amtrak uses on the Metro-North lines between Poughkeepsie and New York City, as well as Metro-North lines between New Rochelle and New Haven, Conn. Amtrak leases much of its track network from other railroads, and Amtrak and the MTA have argued over Metro-North service being extended from Poughkeepsie to Albany.

"(MTA's) actions are violating agreements we've had in place for more than 35 years, causing escalating harm to Amtrak's operations, undermining safety‑critical rail activity, disrupting service needed by millions of passengers, and putting the reliability of intercity rail service at risk," Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams told the Times Union in a statement.

Amtrak's lawsuit is seeking an injunction from the court, ordering Metro-North to stop rejecting its requests. It says their dispute should be settled in arbitration. Amtrak debuted its NextGen Acela service last August, which utilizes new high-speed trains made by Alstom in Hornell, Steuben County. Amtrak is spending $2.5 billion for 28 of the new trains, which travel between Boston and Washington, D.C.

The new "tilting" trains can go 160 mph, up from 150 mph for the older Acela trains that went into service nearly three decades ago. The MTA referred the Times Union to its court filings when asked for comment. In a court filing made earlier this month in the same case, the MTA said that the issues over the use of its tracks began when Amtrak began testing its new Acela trains on the Metro-North line to New Haven in mid-2025.

During several of those test runs, the pantograph, a piece of equipment that connects the train to the overhead power lines, detached from the train, causing delays and extra costs for Metro-North service, the filing says. Amtrak has been eager to get all of its 28 trains into service over the next year, and the Trump administration has been promoting the new Acela service as part of the nation's 250th anniversary celebration, even wrapping one of the trains in the American flag and patriotic symbols.

Amtrak says it has never before had a problem with moving so-called "nonrevenue" trains, or trains that aren't carrying passengers, on Metro-North tracks when it needs to test and certify new Acela trains being added into the system. It also uses the Metro-North tracks in New York to "deliver" the new Alstom trains to Amtrak and to move equipment around its system when needed. The Times Union has reached out to Alstom for comment.

The order for 28 of what Alstom calls its Avelia Liberty trains includes 252 coaches and 56 locomotives, according to the Alstom website. Amtrak and the MTA have had an agreement in place since the 1990s that outlines Amtrak's use of the Metro-North tracks. Typically, when Amtrak has a request to run a "nonrevenue" train on the tracks, meaning one that is not a regularly scheduled passenger trip, it emails the MTA asking to use the tracks for a specific test or purpose.

But Amtrak says in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan last month that the MTA began denying these requests last year and has done so repeatedly this year, causing headaches and delays in getting its new Acela trains incorporated into the Amtrak schedule.

"Metro-North's blanket denials are not grounded in any physical or financial incapacity, operating restriction, or safety concern, which are the only bases on which the agreements permit Metro-North to decline a timely request," the lawsuit reads.

Amtrak says in the lawsuit that the Federal Railroad Administration requires it to use the Metro-North tracks in New York in order to get the Alstom trains delivered, and so trains that Alstom has completed are still in Hornell. Amtrak says Alstom has already "sought damages" from Amtrak for the delays and the issue "threatens Amtrak's relationship with the manufacturer."

Amtrak does not extend NextGen Acela service to Albany because the tracks between Poughkeepsie and Albany do not have overhead electric lines. Those tracks are owned by CSX, a cargo railway. Acela trains run on a catenary system of overhead power lines. And CSX opposes installing overhead electric lines. The company argues the cost is too high and would put a strain on the electrical grid.

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