Amtrak

Photos: Amtrak’s $583 Million Project to Upgrade Its Boston Maintenance Facilities

The expanded maintenance building and associated yard upgrades will support the arrival of a brand-new fleet of Amtrak trains within the next few years.

By Christian MilNeil

5:12 PM EST on November 11, 2025

Two grey and blue trains with sloping noses are parked inside an indoor maintenance facility next to a high-level platform in the center.

Two Acela trainsets parked inside the maintenance building at Southampton on November 6, 2025. The train on the left is one of the new Alstom trainsets, which debuted on the Acela service earlier this year; the train on the right is one of the original Acela trains from the early 2000s.

Last Thursday, Amtrak officials hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking for a $583 million project to upgrade and expand its maintenance facilities at the Southampton Yard near Andrew Square in South Boston, and StreetsblogMASS got a tour of the construction work.

Amtrak officials say that the expanded facilities are necessary for Amtrak to support planned service improvements, including new routes through western Massachusetts.

An aerial view of railyards in South Boston. Interstate 93 curves through the image from the left center to the upper right. North is to the right. The MBTA Red Line and Old Colony Lines cross the image horizontally near the bottom. The MBTA Fairmount Line crosses diagonally, from the upper left corner, to meet the Old Colony tracks at lower right. The planned Widett Circle layover facility is in the right center of the image, inside the curve of I-93. In the left center is a the Amtrak Southampton Yard facility, which includes a large indoor maintenance facility. A red rectangle beneath the existing facility indicates the area where the facility will be expanded. — A map of rail yards in South Boston. The red area indicates the footprint of the Southampton Yard’s expanded maintenance facility, expected to open by 2029.

A bird's-eye view rendering of a large train shed, a long, rectangular low-rise building with numerous tracks leading into the facility. The building is surrounded by additional tracks in the foreground. — A bird’s-eye view rendering of the expanded Amtrak Southampton maintenance facility in South Boston. Courtesy of Amtrak.

The new facilities will also serve Amtrak’s new Airo trainsets, which are due to start arriving in Massachusetts in 2027 to replace the 50-year-old Amfleet coaches.

“As we expand state-supported (Amtrak) service, having more effective operations here in Boston is absolutely necessary. The new fleet serviced here will be used on those new routes,” MassDOT rail administrator Meredith Slesinger told StreetsblogMASS at Thursday’s event.

A small crowd seated in folding chairs, wearing overcoats and bright orange construction vests, faces a speaker at a podium in front of a large warehouse building with a sign that says "Amtrak Maintenance Facility." A banner behind the speaker says "New Amtrak Maintenance Facility On the Way". A model of the Acela train is in the background. — MBTA Chief Operating Officer Ryan Coholan speaks to a small crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony for Amtrak’s Southampton Yard expansion project on November 6, 2025.

Funding for the project comes from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, sometimes referred to as the “bipartisan infrastructure law.” Section 22101 of that law authorized five years’ worth of direct, multi-billion dollar appropriations to Amtrak to improve passenger rail infrastructure.

That funding has not been affected by the recent government shutdown, Amtrak officials told StreetsblogMASS.

Amtrak is simultaneously upgrading its maintenance facilities in Philadelphia, Seattle, and Washington.

The building expansion will replace and enclose two former layover tracks immediately east of the existing structure (pictured below).

Large earthmoving equipment works in a dirt yard between a railway track (left) and a large, long warehouse building (right). — Earthwork is underway to excavate the future building footprint of an expanded Southampton Maintenance Facility for Amtrak trains in South Boston. This photo was taken from the northern end of the yard, looking south. The existing maintenance facility is at right, and Amtrak’s layover tracks are to the left.

The new 860-feet-long, 60,000 square-foot addition will include inspection pits, drop tables, sanding systems, and fueling pads for maintenance and inspection work.

Unlike the MBTA’s yards, which still exclusively serve diesel-powered trains, the Southampton Yard is electrified with catenary over all of its yard tracks to power the electric Acela and Northeast Regional trains. The current construction project will also replace those overhead power systems.

To prepare for this work, Amtrak first rebuilt another layover yard, near the Fairmount Line tracks, to provide some additional train storage while the center of the yard is under construction.

Amtrak refers to this area as the “Front Yard,” and its first four layover tracks were already in use as midday layover for the MBTA’s regional rail trains during Thursday’s ceremony.

Four purple MBTA diesel locomotives parked next to each other on storage tracks in a large layover yard covered with ballast rocks. The Boston skyline is visible in the distance on the left edge of the photo. — Amtrak has built a new layover yard for MBTA regional rail trains at the western edge of its Southampton train yard. The new storage tracks will allow Amtrak to proceed with construction next to the existing Southampton Yard facility without disrupting the MBTA’s layover.

Christian MilNeil

Christian has edited StreetsblogMASS since its founding in spring 2019. Before that, he was a data reporter for the Portland Press Herald in Maine. Got tips? Send them to me via Signal, the encrypted messaging app, at 207-310-0728.

Amtrak | Rail | Transit

Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.