Amtrak officials said they would be able to restore its Cascades service between Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver, B.C., by the end of the week after sending 14 Amfleet cars west. The equipment shuffle comes days after the railroad pulled 70 Horizon cars from service after discovering corrosion issues on several of them. 

The decision last week to withdraw the cars from service disrupted operations nationwide, especially the Cascades, Hiawatha, and Borealis services. The Horizon cars were produced by Bombardier between 1988 and 1990 to supplement the Amfleet I fleet. It remains unclear how long these cars will stay out of service and what kind of plan Amtrak is formulating for their repair.

Immediately after the cars were taken out of service, passengers with tickets for the impacted trains had to ride buses instead. The Borealis was restored within a few days by removing Superliners from long-distance trains. Amtrak also sent 14 Amfleet cars west to Seattle for use on the Cascades. These cars have been added to the Empire Builder consist for movement to the West Coast. The first Amfleet set was expected to enter service on the route on Tuesday, and by the end of the week, all trains would be operating normally (albeit with a shorter consist than usual). The Hiawatha has been using Venture cars that were pressed into service, although officials indicated that they still do not have enough to cover the entire schedule, so some trains are being replaced with buses. 

The Downeaster between Boston and Brunswick, Maine, also lost some Horizon cars and has had to sacrifice some of its normal Amfleet cars to be sent west. As a result, that train is running with shorter consists. —Justin Franz