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Superliner is a double-deck intercity railway passenger car used by Amtrak. Amtrak ordered the replacement of old single-deck cars on long-distance trains in the western United States. The design is based on the Budd Hi-Level vehicle used by the Santa Fe Railroad on the El Capitan train. From 1975 to 1981, Pullman Standard Company manufactured 284 cars, called Superliner I; from 1991 to 1996, Bombardier Transportation Company built a total of 195 cars, called Superliner II. Superliner I cars are the last passenger cars manufactured by Pullman.
Car types include coaches, dining cars, lounges and sleeper cars. Most passenger spaces are located on higher floors, with rows of windows on both sides. The Sightseer Lounge observation car has unique floor-to-ceiling windows on the upper level. Boarding is on a lower level; passengers climb the central stairwell to reach the upper level.
In February 1979, the first Superliner I cars were put into use, and delivery continued until 1981. Amtrak allocates these vehicles to long-distance and short-distance trains in the western United States. In October 1979, the first permanent mission was to the builders of the Seattle Empire in Chicago. Delivery of Superliner II began in 1993. The extra cars scrapped aging high-level cars and assigned Superliners to trains in the eastern United States. The tunnel gap hinders their use in the Northeast Corridor.