Amtrak inspector general revisits Penn Coach Yard security after 2018 audit

Amtrak’s inspector general has issued two recommendations from a Penn Coach Yard security audit in Philadelphia, eight years after its 2018 review found damaged fencing and ungated main entrances.

The office released only a public summary of the report, OIG-A-2026-010, on September 24, pointing to the sensitive nature of its contents. The summary does not describe the vulnerabilities found or the wording of the two recommendations.

Amtrak’s executive vice president for capital delivery, working with the acting vice president for corporate security and chief of police, agreed with both recommendations when commenting on a draft. Management also outlined actions that are under way or planned. The summary gives no deadlines for them.

Why the inspector general went back to the yard

Penn Coach Yard covers about 60 acres next to 30th Street Station. Amtrak inspects and maintains trains there and uses the site to commission NextGen Acela and Airo trainsets.

The company is also rebuilding the yard for future maintenance work. The project includes a new maintenance building and reconfigured tracks, with a projected cost of $463 million. When the office opened the review in January, its engagement memo cited the NextGen Acela commissioning, the new facility and its earlier findings at the yard.

Amtrak awarded the construction contract for the new facility in March 2024. It described Penn Coach Yard as the first of six large maintenance facilities being upgraded for its new trains, with funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

What the 2018 audit found at Penn Coach Yard

The April 2018 report covered both 30th Street Station and the yard. At the yard, the inspector general found damaged or incomplete perimeter fencing, no gates at the main entrances and no routine patrols.

A gate project estimated at about $2 million was 90% designed by January 2018, but no department had taken responsibility for funding and managing its construction. In unannounced checks in May 2017 and March 2018, only 31% and 38% of the parked vehicles inspected showed valid permits. Some yard cameras were also out of service.

At the time, the company put the cost of fixing the security weaknesses identified in Philadelphia at about $20 million. The inspector general made one recommendation: a documented plan with clear roles, accountability, resources and performance metrics. Management agreed and set target dates of March 2019 for yard access measures and December 2018 for video surveillance.

Target dates Amtrak set after the 2018 audit

Every target date, December 2018 and March 2019, passed several years before the 2026 audit, and its public summary does not report whether the measures were completed. Source: 2018 audit report, Amtrak Office of Inspector General.

What the 2026 audit covered

The new audit focused on the railyard alone. Auditors worked from January to September 2026 in Philadelphia, Washington and Chicago. According to the audit summary, they reviewed the status of the earlier recommendations, interviewed company officials, examined company documents and made five site visits to the yard in March and April.

The public summary does not say whether the weaknesses reported in 2018 have been resolved.

How the two Penn Coach Yard audits compare

The 2026 audit narrowed the scope to the yard and made one more recommendation, but its findings are not public. Sources: 2018 audit report and 2026 audit summary, Amtrak Office of Inspector General.