Amfleet II

Amtrak placed an order for 150 additional Amfleet cars with the Budd Company on March 13, 1980, at a total cost of approximately 150 million dollars. Designated Amfleet II to distinguish them from the earlier Amfleet I order completed in 1977, these cars were designed from the outset for long-distance intercity service rather than the shorter-corridor runs for which the original Amfleet I coaches had primarily been intended. Budd delivered the first four production cars on October 28, 1981, with a formal unveiling following on November 11 of that year. Deliveries continued over the next several years, with the final cars arriving on June 11, 1983. The completion of this order marked the end of an era, as the Amfleet II cars proved to be the last intercity passenger cars the Budd Company ever built. Through the 1980s and into the 1990s, Amfleet II coaches became a regular presence on Amtrak's eastern long-distance network. Because Superliner bi-level equipment could not operate over much of the eastern railroad network due to tunnel and platform clearance restrictions, single-level equipment remained essential east of the Mississippi River. Amfleet II cars appeared in consists on routes such as the Lake Shore Limited, the Broadway Limited, the Silver Meteor, the Silver Star, the Crescent, and the City of New Orleans, typically running alongside older Heritage Fleet cars and, later, Viewliner sleeping cars. Unlike the uniformly equipped Superliner trains operating in the West, these eastern long-distance trains often ran with mixed consists drawn from several equipment generations. The Amfleet II fleet proved durable and remained in service well into the twenty-first century. As of the early 2020s, the overwhelming majority of the 150 cars built remained active, continuing to form a core component of Amtrak's single-level passenger car fleet on eastern corridor and long-distance routes. Their longevity reflected both the fundamental soundness of the Budd stainless steel construction philosophy and the absence of a direct replacement program sufficient to retire them entirely.

The Amfleet II cars were derived from the same basic design platform as the Amfleet I, which itself traced its origins to the Budd Metroliner electric multiple unit cars that had entered service on the Northeast Corridor in 1969. Budd constructed the Amfleet II using its trademark corrugated stainless steel shell, a manufacturing approach the company had refined over decades of passenger car production. Each coach was configured to seat 59 passengers, a somewhat lower capacity than comparable short-distance coaches, reflecting the greater legroom and folding legrests provided for the comfort of passengers riding longer distances. The cars rode on a single vestibule arrangement, in contrast to the Amfleet I design which incorporated vestibules at both ends to facilitate faster passenger loading and unloading at busy corridor stations. Several detail differences set the Amfleet II apart from its predecessor beyond the seating configuration. The cars featured noticeably larger windows suited to the scenic routes on which they frequently operated, giving passengers a better view of the passing landscape. Like all Amfleet equipment, the Amfleet II was built to operate with head-end power provided by the locomotive, supplying electricity for lighting, heating, air conditioning, and other onboard systems throughout the train. The cars measured approximately 85 feet in length and were compatible with the standard automatic coupler and steam or HEP heating connections used across the Amtrak fleet, allowing them to operate freely in mixed consists with other equipment types.

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