Case Study: Amtrak boosts design productivity 60% and cuts design time 40% with SOLIDWORKS

All Aboard! Keeping the Trains Modern, Running On Time With Solidworks

Amtrak, the U.S. intercity passenger rail provider, faced the challenge of maintaining, reverse‑engineering, and modernizing an aging fleet of passenger railcars while preserving compatibility with legacy 2D design data. After evaluating 3D systems, Amtrak selected SolidWorks, deploying SolidWorks CAD along with SolidWorks Simulation and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM (initially 25 licenses) to support designers and engineers in its Rolling Stock Engineering Group.

Using SolidWorks’ integrated design, simulation, and PDM tools, Amtrak modernized car interiors (new seats, LED lighting, recycling bins), validated critical structures in‑house, and automated document workflows to manage more than 500,000 design files. The SolidWorks solution increased design productivity by 60%, delivered 40% time savings, reduced prototypes and costs through simulation, tightened revision control, and cut design errors and quality issues.

Amtrak

John Campbell

Industrial Designer