Did you know that Amtrak has statutory priority over freight trains? I didn’t until I read the article in the October issue of Trains about Amtrak hitting the jackpot on CSX. It should be easy to understand why I didn’t know when you take into consideration how often Amtrak is numerous hours late arriving at its destinations.
I have to ask why this law is not being obeyed. I guess when I’m in doubt I should just listen to CSX railroad officials who say that, “If you give Amtrak absolute priority, in fairly short order you have the entire subdivision shut down.” I suppose that the idea of double-tracking the 299 miles between Richmond, VA and Florence, SC is just too crazy to even consider. Of course the article also states that even where the line is double tracked, Amtrak can’t pass slow moving trains due to bidirectional running. I would think that a fairly easy solution to this would be passing tracks interspersed along the double track mainline. It has been done is some areas and I wouldn’t think it would be of a huge cost to CSX. Of course I suppose that idea is also crazy.
Also take into consideration other examples of Amtrak running on double track mainline. Between Chicago and Denver the BNSF Railway is completely double track and Amtrak rarely loses more than half an hour between these two points. If BNSF can do it, why can’t CSX?
I understand that in some cases it is just going to end up being impossible to give Amtrak the highest priority, but I think it is feasible to give it a good deal more priority than it usually gets. If Amtrak can’t figure anything out with Amtrak, then I really hope they file a lawsuit against CSX to win the priority they deserve.
I think that passenger rail service is a very valuable asset to this country and I think it is just sickening they way the Class One railroads treat Amtrak. If passengers are constantly arriving 3, 4, 5 or more hours late than they obviously are not going to want to ride the train again and Amtrak is go
CSX’s poor Amtrak treatment is very real and very irritating to passengers in the NYSSR (Empire Corridor) Today’s 63, the Maple Leaf pulled off a highly unusal feat today:(9.9.06) It arrived at Buffalo/Depew on time! It normally runs a half hour to 45 minutes late most days. Amtrak’s other Maple Leaf, 64 suffers from paranioa induced delays from customs and immigration at the Canadian /US border. It runs an average of 35-45 minutes late. The other far upstate trains regularly run 30-45 minutes late westbound. Eastbounds into New York get into Albany with similar delays. Magically, these delays are not seen south of Albany-Rensselaer, unless the Department of Homeland (Paraniod) Security decides to interfere for our “security”. But CSX freights that are underpowered, or have run out of crew time, or cannot get into a yard and have to tie up one of the two main tracks. Quote" We think this train is underpowered".
“Are you moving?”
“10 MPH, the second unit is dead, and this one is gonna die. It’s running hot.”
“Then, you are not underpowered.”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
“Yeah, I know, What can ya do, anyway?”-Actual conversation between a DS and a train some time in the last year.
[soapbox]After taking Amtrak round trip from Chicago to LaCrosse recently my advice to everybody is simply this…“If you have a defenite schedule to keep then don’t take Amtrak, but if your time is your own and arriving or departing at a specific time is not a priority, I highly recommend Amtrak as a relaxing and enjoyable way to travel”.[2c]
UP needs to remember since they are basically the SP Corp renamed into the UP they already have been sued one time by Amtrak and lost for there handling of passenger trains. Amtrack has praise for BNSF saying they are the only one that gives us the priority we should have.
THAT’S Union Pacific for you. And the stretch between Chicago and La Crosse on the Empire Builder is Canadian National (I think). Is BNSF the only railroad left in the country that actually sort of pushes Amtrak along? I have to agree, BNSF is at least trying to give Amtrak priority. I hear conversations all of the time on my radio about trains “clearing for Amtrak” on the Ottumwa Subdivision. And these people talking don’t even seem annoyed about it, like they just have to do it, you know. The Southwest Chief is run on completely BNSF track. It it ever real late?
All those who believe they have a better idea in how to utilize the limited railroad physical plant to move ALL the traffic that currently moves on the railroads is welcome to apply for the Dispatchers jobs that each carrier is continually hireing. It is easy to call shots, when each of those shots is not a 9000 foot train that has the Hours of Service clock ticking, ticking, ticking.
I was glad to hear that Amtrak is beginning to push on the host railroads to give them the priority they deserve. I know it is very difficult to juggle all the trains on the limited track space but railroads need to understand that a box car full of merchandise can be a little late to Wal-Mart etc. But when someone has a meeting they need to be there on time.
As just about everyone else has mentioned, BNSF seems to have figured out an idea. I’m simply suggesting that the other class one railroads should try to follow BNSF’s example. I’ve also noticed that not only is BNSF able to give Amtrak priority, they are also able to do so without significantly delaying their other trains.
ATK is a huge pain in the a$$ to the railroads, even to BNSF. I suspect it costs hundreds of train hours of delay per day on each of the big Class I lines. Nobody bothers to count the delay ATK causes, because ATK doesn’t pay for it. Another free ride on the railroads.
In an odd sort of way, I find that I need to agree with both BaltACD and Willy. Agree with BaltACD, primarily because he – and other dispatchers on some of the rail lines – are not supported adequately by the top end. The problem on these lines is not, bluntly, confined to Amtrak. As the delightful quote from the radio suggests, there are some operations which are still trying to operate on the principle of using the least equipment, the least capital, and the fewest men possible to get the job done – just.
There is ample precedent for this approach; for a number of years, it was very difficult to get any funding for railroad operations at all, and a philosophy developed that it was laudable to stick it out and go the duct tape and baling wire route. This is a hard philosophy to shake. So don’t be too hard on the poor folks in the trenches – the engineers running a unit which is trying to quit, or a dispatcher trying to dispatch trains under such conditions. Most of them are doing the best they can with what they have at hand.
On the other hand, there are at least 4 Class I’s around which have discovered that it is possible, nowadays, to get money for improved equipment and improved track and signalling, and to hire a few more people – and that if you can get over the hump, it really pays to run a railroad as a scheduled operation. And they do. And oddly, they seem to be able to manage having one or two Amtrak trains a day on their lines without much trouble – either to Amtrak or to the freight operations. It’s not just BNSF, Willy – as I say, there are four which are doing a pretty good job.
The frt RRs are required to do the best they can with the Amtrak trains on their existing physical plant.
They are not required to make capital invenstments to support Amtrak, such as additional main tracks or sidings.
Nor are they required to let their RR grind to a halt to save an Amtrak train 15 minutes.
On the other hand, the frt RRs often don’t seem to care about their obligation to operate Amtrak trains. I think it has more to do with local decisions and poor planning than any corporate evil intentions.
I have seen some amazing dispatching where Amtrak has gotten first class treatment, snaking a path between and around frt traffic on both the UP (Denver to Grand Junction) and NS (Atlanta terminal) and BNSF (Aurora to Chicago). I’ve aslo seen some really poor dispatching on CSX (DC to Richmond - which appear to be the result of some really poor planning) and UP (Salt Lake to Reno - just didn’t care).
Suing the frt RRs won’t improve Amtrak’s relationship with them and may only help make political enemies. Better Amtrak try to get realtime OS data from the frt RRs for all thier routes, including the freight trains operating there so they can see and analyze the issues and problems that occur. Then they can work with the frt RRs to make plans to improve operations and secure pubic money for improvements. The frt RRs don’t have the time, energy, people or money to devote to this, so the burden falls to Amtrak.
My impression is that Norfolk Southern also generally does a good job, not only with Amtrak, but with the commuter trains out of Washington, DC, as well, and especially as compared with CSX.
I really don’t think it’s about the physical plant with CSX. It’s more like poor planning. The service clock might be “ticking, ticking, ticking” but poor planning will just lead to more lost time. Fred Frailey used the example of an Amtrak train stuck behind a slow freight that was to meet another slow freight with one of the hot intermodals behind it. That’s poor planning by the dispatcher. Instead of increasing the service time on two freights, the dispatcher increased the service time on four trains.
CSX just makes excuses and their excuses are just about as weak as the dispatching. Of course, it doesn’t sound like anybody upstairs at Jacksonville is too upset. Amtrak brass will jump up and down, then CSX will remember the pecking order between Florida and Richmond for awhile: Amtrak, Auto Train, intermodals 172/173/174/175/176, K650 (OJ juice train), etc. Amtrak will reach destinations closer to on-time for a while and then CSX will go back to what it’s doing today. If CSX trains their dispatchers properly, then the whole system won’t unravel if they give Amtrak some priority.
NS doesn’t have good numbers on east-west trains on former CR routes and for the Crescent south of Atlanta. The VRE trains do well, in part, because there isn’t a lot of freight traffic north of Manassas. Similarly, freight traffic between Atlanta and DC isn’t all that heavy.
Your point is well taken, and it is a good one, but do you really think that the problem is one of dispatching, or does the burden of responsibility fall perhaps up a little higher on the management tree?
Perhaps at the planning and operational strategy level?
As consolidation of parallel competitors has led to abandonment of surplus lines_,_
that has effectively moved the rail traffic that once moved in several corridors, to fewer,
I know that where I live for example, I live within a half hour of 4 abandoned east-west mains coming out of Chicago that once had both freight and passenger service, and a 5th that clings to existence as a regional.
Granted, a good portion of that former traffic has gone onto the highways, but at the same time it was rail management that decided which lines were surplus, perhaps they were overly ambitious in seeking the economy that consolidation and abandonment would bring them?
Wouldn’t surprise me at all if rail management conveniantly “overlooked” their obligations to provide capacity for amtrak when making their utilization forcasts that abandonment was ultimately based on