Amtrak Wins Argument That Passengers Go First and Freight Can Wait

[DavidB-AU]

Amtrak prevailed over freight railroads in a regulatory fight over whether Amtrak’s passenger trains should have the right of way over cargo trains.

 

The Surface Transportation Board said Thursday it has withdrawn a proposal that would have altered a law that gives Amtrak preference while traveling on freight railroads’ tracks.

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/amtrak-wins-argument-that-passengers-go-first-and-freight-can-wait-1469735551

[Bruce Depot]

its behind a pay wall so cannot read it.

pity as looks interesting.

[davknigh]

Hopefully the same can take place with VIA in Canada as there is now a precedent. But I'm not holding my breath....

 

Cheers,

 

David

[Spitfire2865]

Finally. I once had to sit for over an hour waiting for not one but 3 freights to go by.

[modelmaker87]

its behind a pay wall so cannot read it.

pity as looks interesting.

 

 

Try this URL.  

 

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Amtrak-has-priority-over-freight-but-5923268.php

 

Cheers, Tony

[Adrian Wintle]

Try this URL.  

 

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Amtrak-has-priority-over-freight-but-5923268.php

 

Cheers, Tony

It is all very well to point to the laws involved in the creation of Amtrak, but when you try and run a passenger train on a single track freight line you are going to get held up at some point as there are limited passing locations. Even the former PRR 4-track 'broad way' has been rationalized down to two over a lot of its length. I'm guessing the primary reason that the 'passenger priority' rule isn't being enforced is that it will bring up questions of money, particularly of Amtrak finding money to pay for some of the maintenance or upgrades of the routes it uses.

 

Adrian

[brianusa]

A hard call as basically the railways own the tracks in most cases and Amtrak is allowed running rights.  The original concept was for passengers to have priority but when you have big corporations running the show, its a bit difficult.  Its been a bone of contention ever since its inception with passenger trains being held at many passing places as mentioned.  We all know paths have to be found for trains but freight companies have usually played hard ball and consequently many Amtrak trains run late inconveniencing everyone.

 

Brian.

[dave1905]

Having actually managed the dispatching operating on lines that carry both Amtrak and freight trains, I will tell you its not as easy as the average person thinks.  Its not at all uncommon that when an Amtrak train enters a subdivision, train as far away as 100-150 miles are being put into sidings to meet the Amtrak.  Bear in mind that Amtrak not only has to  meet opposing trains but pass trains in the same direction it overtakes.  And at some point there may be more trains than you can put away in sidings. On several lines one of the biggest delays is Amtrak meeting itself.

 

Each railroad determines what their policies with regard to Amtrak, some have more, some less.  Pretty much every dispatcher I've ever worked with had a plan on where Amtrak was going to meet every train, hours before it actually hit his territory.

[Platypus]

Hello All,

 

I regards to passenger train priority this may generally be feasible if the freight trains can be looped, however if the freight train is longer than the crossing loop then the freight train has priority by default. On the Standard Gauge between Melbourne and Albury ( for Sydney NSWGR ) the Thomas Nationwide Transport / TNT jets ( Express Goods ) was longer than any crossing loop therefore they had priority. Late running jets caused the the overnight Southern Aurora and Spirit of Progress to run late and a similar situation occurred on the Western Main Line to Adelaide causing the overnight Overland ( overdue ! ) to be frequently late. The VR was consistently starved of funding for many years so crossing loop extensions and upgrades were not an option, even purchasing new main line diesels was difficult which explains the drip feeding of new X class diesels whose primary duty were the jets.

 

Platypus

[dave1905]

I have a book on the Blue Streak Merchandise, the premier hotshot on the Cotton Belt and later SP. There's a section on dispatching the thing too, very informative.

 

I've actually delayed that train.  

 

I worked for a different RR and at a spot where my RR operated jointly with the SSW, which my RR dispatched, the SSW derailed (blocking both RR's).  By the time we had a route open my RR had several crews running short on time (with a very limited crew base to recrew them if they didn't move), so our dispatcher took our drag freights first and held the BSM.  The SSW Asst Supt. (nicknamed "Booger") was apoleptic.  Oops.

[CraigZ]

Ride a weekday Amtrak Silver Star south out of Washington DC on the old RF&P.  Between Alexandria VA and Richmond you can pretty much count on losing 40 minutes.  It's double track the entire length, but when the Star is scheduled thru there are Virginia Railway Express commuter trains and CSX freights.  CSX can't keep that train on time for love nor money.  It loses time in Florida northbound as well.

[TravisM]

Remember that freight customers are usually paying far more per mile than Amtrak does.  I think their contracts are written years in advance and the railroads are probably paid just enough to cover operating costs with inflation and other operating expenses factored in.  Big container companies and shippers are probably paying top dollar to get their containers on a fast service, so there is little incentive for railroads to prioritise a passenger train which make little or no money for them.

 

Just my 5 cents worth.

 

Julian Sprott

[CraigZ]

Remember that freight customers are usually paying far more per mile than Amtrak does.  I think their contracts are written years in advance and the railroads are probably paid just enough to cover operating costs with inflation and other operating expenses factored in.  Big container companies and shippers are probably paying top dollar to get their containers on a fast service, so there is little incentive for railroads to prioritise a passenger train which make little or no money for them.

 

Just my 5 cents worth.

 

Julian Sprott

Except...the deal the freight roads made to move their passenger train operations over to Amtrak included an agreement to prioritize Amtrak trains.  That's the deal. 

[Edwin_m]

Except...the deal the freight roads made to move their passenger train operations over to Amtrak included an agreement to prioritize Amtrak trains.  That's the deal. 

In return, I think, for removing their own obligation to run passenger trains on which they were losing money hand over fist. 

 

However it is in their interest for Amtrak to cease passenger operations on their routes "of its own accord" and thereby remove their timetable problem and probably a big potential liability too.  So they will probably be as awkward as possible without stepping beyond the boundaries of the law.  I imagine also Amtrak has to tread carefully in the political arena, as it doesn't have many friends to start with, it probably loses a few whenever it pulls out of a particular state, and I should think the freight railroads have quite a bit of clout in Congress. 

[Adrian Wintle]

Except...the deal the freight roads made to move their passenger train operations over to Amtrak included an agreement to prioritize Amtrak trains.  That's the deal.

True, but I'm pretty sure there wasn't anything in the deal about maintaining the infrastructure (sidings, multiple tracks) to make prioritizing the Amtrak trains as practical as Amtrak might like. There has been a lot of rationalizing of infrastructure since Amtrak was formed, and almost none of it was done with any consideration for Amtrak's needs.

 

Adrian

[dave1905]

Also remember that "priority" doesn't mean they won't have to stop or they won't have to meet or pass other trains.  Priority just means they go first.  If Amtrak will meet or pass 15 trains on a sub and there are 6 sidings, at some point Amtrak is going to be sitting someplace waiting on a meet.  Part of the problem is Amtrak uses "unimpeded run time", what the train would do if it was the only train on the railroad.  Surprise!!!  Its not.  They share the railroad with the owner's freight trains.

 

Here is the fallacy of the whole thing.  Amtrak only operates 80-85% on time with the Acela service on the NE Corridor.  THEY own the track, THEY do the dispatching, they have anywhere from 2-4 main tracks, they can operate up to 150 mph.  They can't even get their own premium trains on their own track on time.  Maybe they should take themselves to court and fine themselves.

[Adrian Wintle]

Here is the fallacy of the whole thing.  Amtrak only operates 80-85% on time with the Acela service on the NE Corridor.  THEY own the track, THEY do the dispatching, they have anywhere from 2-4 main tracks, they can operate up to 150 mph.  They can't even get their own premium trains on their own track on time.  Maybe they should take themselves to court and fine themselves.

Add to that list that the Acela service is the premium service and should get the highest priority of all the trains on the corridor.