I ride The Lake Shore Limited 4-6 times a year from NYC to Chicago. Recently ( last three months) the trains are usually 2 to 8 hours late. This is wrecking my business. Anyone know what gives?
From what I gathered while I was working for the UP, The dispatchers would hold AMTRAK in order to try and get their trains back on schedule. I’ve seen AMTRAK #'s 5 & 6 be anywhere from 2 to 10 hrs. late on a daily basis.
Well lets look at this when I was on the COAST STARLIGHT thisn summer we were arrived 45 Minites late in to PORTLAND THANKS TO UTTERLY PATHETIC and COMPANY but with BNSF we got in to SEATTLE ONTIME and their always late
CSX has been having some trouble running anything on time on the water level route; not just sure why. Not just Amtrak, but their freights, too. At least part of the time this winter they’ve been having some bad problems with switches freezing up. Not an excuse for CSX – just a commentary. Some of the stuff coming through is right on the money, though.
CSX is having both track problems and an acute motive power shortage in that area. Cause unknown…
LC
What bothers me most is the eastbound originates in Chicago and that train is ALWAYS 2 to 5 hours late out of the station. It’s inexcusable.
The Texas Eagle is usually about 1 to 3 hours late but has sped up because the speed has been raised to 40 mph through here, north of here between us and St. Louis the track had 28 speed restrictions, most of 15 mph, and as you can tell this slowed it down…a lot!!!
Im an Engineer for Amtrak and the main things that give us problems are the host railroads and track repairs. The longest time I’ve stayed in the same spot on my P-42, was when I entered NS territory. They kept me in Altoona for 6 hours. Now thats inexcusable. Some times we have problems with the locomotives but thats a different story.
Amtrak Mark
I ride Amtrak from St. Louis to Chicago 1-2 times a year and it is never on time. I rode the City of New Orleans from Centralia,IL. last year and it was 3 hours late going to Chicago and 2 hours late coming back. [:(!] [banghead] I have photographed this train and it seems like it is late 90% of the time.
hghgh
I spoke with a CSX dispatcher out of JAX in early January. He said AMTRAK pays each freight RR $3.50 per mile per train, which he claimed was not sufficient incentive to run AMTRAK on time. Perhaps AMTRAK needs to pay more for on-time trains, & assess fines for late trains.
The CSX dispatcher also said UP was the worst for AMTRAK – CEO “hates” AMTRAK & will run any shambling freight around a passenger train.
The problem about paying for track usage is that Amtrak has alot of trains and doesn’t have the money. The other thing is that they hate us (Amtrak) because they believe that if they run us on time, its taking up time with the frieght trains. CSX doesn’t exactly like Amtrak. No Major RR Freight company likes Amtrak. A CSX disp. gave me alot of greef when I use to engineer the Auto Train. He put me behind every freight train possible. Oh well. If Amtrak could boost some rider ship, and increase there income, things could be better.
Amtrak Mark
Agreed that the freights don’t like AMTRAK. That CSX dispatcher wasn’t exactly hostile, but not pro either. Of course, he just does what the managers tell him.
Hard to boost ridership & revenues when on-time performance is so poor. Vicious circle. Freight RRs need to be fairly compensated for trains on their rails, but penalized harshly for delays. More scheduling & less spur-of-the-moment movements might help accommodate more trains on limited rails, like airline flight paths, landing slots, etc.
The dispatcher also told me proudly that auto carriers from Detroit took 5 days to get to Florida. 5 DAYS! Wake up , railroads. This is the age of the overnight package. No wonder the truckers are still winning the war.
I would be interested to know how many TRAINS readers have actually ridden AMTRAK within the past year.
–An interested (& opinionated), but not especially knowledgable observer.
I rode the Cresent from Greenville to Newark twice (once this past summer, another this past holiday season) and back. During the summer when I traveled up to Newark and back to Greenville, I arrived almost on time. When I rode again this past holiday season, I arrived at least 30 minutes early at Newark! On the return trip to Greenville, I arrived on time. For me, I didn’t experience the lateness that I have read about.
I have stopped taking the Starlight because it is usually 3 or more hours late into Seattle thanks to UP.
Yikes!
I’m planning an AMTRAK trip from Orlando to NYC in March and I had no idea the trains were running this far behind. We have plenty of time going up, but coming back could be an issue if we are that late.
I wanted to take the train to give my kids that experience, but it’s no wonder the ridership is low when it takes so long to get from A to B and the price is comparable to flying.
Are these delays an accepted part of training or does AMTRAK make any concessions for arriving so late?
Why is AMTRAK so hated by the freights? Does CSX have any legitimate reason to be nasty? I’m sure they don’t have the cleanest hands. I’m just trying to figure it out. Help.
When Dave Gunn took over Amtrak, he dropped the “satisfaction” guarantee which offered a refund or other compensation when trains were late or there were other problems. It was done in part, because conditions had gotten to the point that only the most jaded of us rail fans would be satisfied. Also, Amtrak was within weeks of running out of cash. which would have left some 23,000 people much less than satisfied.
I’ve said before on a different thread that dispatching is a big part of the problem and one that could be corrected if top management made it clear that Amtrak is to get its appropriate priority. I know that some members work the desks, and I am not going to be critical of the front line. A call from the UPS rail service manager shakes up the suits, and I wouldn’t want to be a dispatcher having to explain why the a hot double stack was held for Amtrak.
By the way, Trains January issue had an article on the subject, and noted that BNSF CEO Matt Rose, said his multi-million on-time bonus from Amtrak ws worth 3 cents a share, and he attributed it to having a disciplined operation. It would be hard to get the facts, but I wonder how hot freight on-time performance on the other Class Ones would match up to BNSF.
PS-I’ve never been a dispatcher, but I am willing to bet that 9 out of 10 bad days were the result of just a few minutes lost here and there for any of dozens of reasons. Kind of like death by a thousand cuts. Mark H. Where are you? Any input on this?
You know what really pisses me off about CSX is that they lay off about a 1,000 workers and then buy millions of dollars worth of Football tickets. My friend was layed off about the time they did that and I guess he just retired from the railroads all together…I hate CSX all together because of them all (Management) being such jerks to the hard working men and women.
Does anybody know what Mr. Gunn thinks of this whole mess? Is it merely just a paycheck to him?