Wally Krantz’s
Outside Order

Amtrak Airo

Amtrak was formed in 1971 as the United States’ national railroad, operating more than 300 trains running on 21,400 miles of track connecting 46 states. In 2025 Amtrak marked its third consecutive year of increased ridership with a record 34.5 million passengers.

In 2021 Amtrak ordered 83 new Siemens trainsets with enhanced safety, comfort, reliability, sustainability, and passenger amenities. Continuing a history of evolving liveries to signal new service types, Amtrak sought a new design system for a new service experience.

After working with Wally on the development of the Series VII locomotive livery two years earlier, Amtrak engaged OO&Friends to imagine and explore what the future Airo graphic language could be. Collaborating with the Amtrak marketing team and fleet engineers, our design exploration demonstrated how the livery could improve the passenger experience.

We improved wayfinding on the exterior entryways to be more intuitive and easier for passengers to locate their car and services, created a color system to differentiate service types, and identified areas for reflective decals in the design for increased visibility and safety. Color and typography sensibilities created here were designed to connect the passenger experience at online, mobile, and ticketing kiosks.

Using an inventive graphic approach, the new livery solved for cars to be connected in different configurations and work as a forward-moving design even when traveling in the reverse direction on some routes.

The first Airo trainsets will complete production and begin testing in 2026, with revenue service for the Northeast Regional expected to begin in 2027

Wally Krantz’s Outside Order is based in Brooklyn, New York.

Outside Order & Friends is a strategic design studio making creative thinking real.

Contact wk@outorinc.com

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