BEAR, Delaware — Amtrak is adding color coding at the entries to its railcars to guide passengers to the correct location to board its trains.
The first cars introducing this system — which uses green near the doors to denote coach, blue for business class, and red for first class — were to be released from the Bear, Del., maintenance facility on Monday, March 3, the company said in a press release today (March 6, 2025).
The new feature is part of the “Phase VII” design, introduced on new Siemens Charger ALC42 locomotives and and added to some P42 units, that is now being introduced on other rolling stock. Amtrak says the design “seamlessly adapts” to equipment with full-body paint, as well as stainless steel cars with graphic treatment along the window line. Equipment will be updated with the Phase VII design as they are serviced. The company offers a history of its paint schemes here.
— Updated at 5:40 p.m. CT with larger version of original image and addition of second photo.
Sounds like a good idea to me and long overdue besides. Also, I like the way the words “Coach” and “Class” are separated with a space instead of trying to be cute by trying to make a new word by jamming the words together.
This color marker, with the car fleet number and consist number right next to it could make boarding at station stops much easier and faster. Mark off “spot” locations on the platform in line with consist of train so passengers for coach and sleeper blocks know where to wait and avoid multiple stops.
Amtrak makes a change that intentionally benefits passengers? Say it isn’t so! This could lead to a slippery slope where the railroad’s management repeatedly allows its customers’ convenience to influence operations.
The new VII paint scheme will be a huge help to passengers at boarding time! Sadly, Amtrak could paint a lot more cars with the new color scheme and “refresh” the equipment faster, if Amtrak management wasn’t collecting their huge $500,000-$800,000 annual bonuses for cutting costs and services to the bone. Why are Amtrak executives given huge monetary incentives to oversee long-distance trains that —
(1) don’t offer full dining car service on every train,
(2) don’t operate with 4-5 coaches and 3-4 sleepers on every train,
(3) don’t offer staffed and stocked lounge and dome cars on various routes to improve the on-board experience,
(4) don’t provide daily service on every route,
(5) don’t offer innovative connections and routings to make the network more appealing to potential new passengers.
A real company would provide bonuses to executives to think outside the box and implement expanded services and products that would make customers want to make purchases and spend money, thereby increasing company sales and revenue. But Amtrak is not a “real” company. It’s a concentrated group of Washington, DC bureaucrats that have no concept or understanding of the national rail network and who have no intention of messing up their massive bonus checks. As proven by their actions, passengers are NOT THEIR FOCUS! They only want the bonus money!
Good for the passengers, of course!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
The paint is nice, but for some reason all I notice are the shiny new wheels!
As my first mechanical foreman grumbled to me as we walked the yard, “Quit looking at that.”
Same here!
@Daniel Carleton What foreman in their right mind would instruct an employee to not inspect equipment on their way by?
European railroads use a yellow stripe to indicate first class cars/seating. It’s a shame that Amtrak could not have adopted that standard:-(
The link for the historic paint schemes doesn’t seem to exist.
Yeah. Still waiting for that!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Took a leaf out of Brightline’s and also UTA’s book. That should be done label the cars so people know where to go. This is ethical and it will allow smoother flow at stations when passengers need to board.
I understand that in Britain and other places, like rapid transit, doors will have a contrasting color to enable the visually impaired to locate the doors.
Europe has a horizontal stripe to indicate first class. Don’t have to rmemeber what color is which.
I think it’s YELLOW.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün