I hope this does not add to Amtrak's equipment woes, bad as they have been already since April. The Vermonter uses single level equipment, primarily Amfleet I. Usually there have been conventional coaches like on the NEC, but they may have been upgraded using former Metroliner equipment (that is, if it was not pulled back off the train to form Metroliners to substitute for Acela Express).
The Vermonter is one train that still makes an engine change at New Haven, although the dwell time is not as long because while the electric is taken off the front, a diesel is put on the rear. The train then operates in "push mode" to Palmer, MA (along the CSX Boston-Albany line) where it changes direction. The diesel (P-40) then pulls the train up the New England Central RR towards Vermont. This train has also been spotted at times with diesels on both ends, this way the engineer simply walks from one engine to the other in Palmer. So at least we know that the engineer was protected in this crash, in that he was in a diesel engine rather than a cab car.