CHICAGO – The aging Horizon coaches and café cars that were yanked from service on Amtrak’s Borealis are beyond repair, sources said. Corrosion had created significant structural issues. When Horizon-class fleet was sidelined in March, Amtrak said that a routine inspection had found underbody corrosion in places not normally visible. As a precaution, 70 cars were pulled from service on several regional trains, These included the Chicago-to-St. Paul Borealis that serves Winona. At the time Amtrak didn’t elaborate on the corrosion. Sources now say water and ice accumulation and 35 years of de-icing treatments and also neglect had ended the useful lifetime of the cars. Some of the cars were built as early as 1990. Meanwhile, Amtrak has repurposed and repositioned newer cars to keep the Borealis and other regional trains rolling. The result: Less capacity, fewer onboard services, and a growing shortage of rolling stock nationwide.
