take-a-photo-tour-of-amtraks-new-miami-shophttps://www.trains.com/trn/railroads/take-a-photo-tour-of-amtraks-new-miami-shop/Take a photo tour of Amtrak's new Miami shop | Trains MagazineTrains magazine "Passenger" correspondent takes you inside Amtrak’s new Hialeah preventive maintenance facilityInStockUSD1.001.00railroadsarticleTRN2020-11-032012-05-2418444
Welcome to Hialeah! Amtrak shares space in the 53-acre shop area with CSX and Tri-Rail vendors Veolia and Bombardier, which service Tri-Rail’s Miami-West Palm Beach commuter trains.
Wheels that have been recently trued (machined and straightened) are put on a truck for the Auto Train facility at Sanford, Fla. This work used to be done at Amtrak’s Beech Grove, Ind., shop.
Camiro Ramos replaces a waste system check valve and heat trace tape under Viewliner sleeper 62022. Until Hialeah’s new shop building, these outdoor tracks were also used to inspect Silver Star and Silver Meteor equipment on their overnight layover.
A truck on this 1950s-vintage Heritage diner takes 500 hours of work to rebuild. The interchangeable Viewliner and Superliner trucks only require 150 hours.
Superintendent Ed Alderman and facility manager Jeff Pinckney (in pit) examine the new 920-foot-long pit track, where workers can perform repairs while standing or at waist level.
Amtrak media relations manager Christina Leeds examines the water jet cutter, which can custom-make many parts that were previously outsourced to machine shops.
This view from the classroom in the new maintenance building shows a hurricane-damaged older building (it will be demolished) and pit lighting being installed in the outdoor coach yard tracks.
Another view of the coach yard tracks, being rebuilt with an electric conduit trench. Silver Star and Silver Meteor equipment is inspected here overnight. All single-level cars slated for preventive maintenance are switched in and out of these trains by Hialeah crews.
A Heritage dining car gets a wheel replacement at the wheel truing station. Locomotive change-outs will continue to take place here away from the new maintenance building.
Electrician James Green sits on foam to protect himself from gravel outside while replacing a valve on the air conditioning unit of an Amfleet II coach. With the opening of the new building on April 20, this work was brought inside.
Pick up the July 2012 issue of Trains Magazine and find out how Amtrak opened a new car repair and maintenance facility in Miami — and what it means for Amtrak travelers around the system.
For his report on the new shop, Trains magazine “Passenger” columnist visited the Hialeah facility on Feb. 14, 2012, prior to its opening, and is pleased to present this selection of photos from his visit. (The shop officially opened on April 20, 2012.)
The shop performs planned maintenance and other repairs to Amtrak’s single-level long distance fleet of Viewliner sleepers, Amfleet II coaches, and Heritage dining and baggage cars.
At that time while the new shop building was under construction, most of the work was being conducted as it had been from the time Amtrak took over the facility from CSX Transportation in 1993. So here’s a pre-opening look at the new shop and what it replaced.
