John Webb
Train Attendant
As we all know, the freight railroads have for decades routinely delayed Amtrak trains to give their freight trains preference in operation. This has resulted in often severe delays to hundreds of passengers daily. They do this in violation of federal law:
"United States Code Title 49. TRANSPORTATION Subtitle V. RAIL PROGRAMS Part C. PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION Chapter 243 AMTRAK Section 24308. Use of facilities and providing services to Amtrak... (c) Preference Over Freight Transportation.—Except in an emergency, intercity and commuter rail transportation provided by or for Amtrak has preference over freight transportation in using a rail line, junction, or crossing..."
There is a fix for this. As part of the infrastructure bill being voted on the next few days is a structure that will put some effective teeth in the law and will result in hefty fines for the freight railroads when they fail to give Amtrak trains priority over freight trains in the future. Join Rail Passengers Association (I am posting this as an individual not in any official capacity of RPA, altho I am a member) in calling on your congressional Representatives and Senators and tell their offices that the freight railroads are ignoring the law when they hold up Amtrak trains. Ask them to support Sen. Durbin's Preference Enforcement Amendment (Amendment No. 2190), which doesn't change the law but just gives Amtrak the right to go to court to protect your right to be on time.
This post is intended to highlight these illegal delays to Amtrak trains on a day to day basis. Here are the delays for the past approximately 24 hours caused specifically, in whole or in part, by freight train interference as cited by Amtrak on Amtrak Alerts (amtrak.com):
#306 1 hr
#508 2 hrs, 15 mins
#364 30 mins
#80 2hrs, 10 mins
#53 (no elapsed time of delay reported but indicated by Amtrak Alerts as a freight train delay)
#503 50 mins
#4 (8/3) (no elapsed time of delay reported but indicated by Amtrak Alerts as a freight train delay)
Notes to the above:
Only trains specifically indicated by Amtrak Alerts as suffering from freight train delays are listed. Delays caused by weather, vehicle/pedestrian accidents, mechanical breakdowns to Amtrak equipment, etc. are not listed.
Delays for which Amtrak Alerts does not list a cause are not listed. No doubt some of these "cause not indicated" delays were caused by freight train interference, but without an assertion by Amtrak Alerts that that was the case they will not go on the list.
Trains can be delayed for multiple reasons in the course of their journeys. The times indicated are the total times of all delays, so, while some trains may have been partially delayed by non freight train interference factors some, if not all, of the delay was caused by freight train interference as reported by Amtrak. Amtrak Alerts does not specify which part of a delay was caused by freight train interference.
"United States Code Title 49. TRANSPORTATION Subtitle V. RAIL PROGRAMS Part C. PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION Chapter 243 AMTRAK Section 24308. Use of facilities and providing services to Amtrak... (c) Preference Over Freight Transportation.—Except in an emergency, intercity and commuter rail transportation provided by or for Amtrak has preference over freight transportation in using a rail line, junction, or crossing..."
There is a fix for this. As part of the infrastructure bill being voted on the next few days is a structure that will put some effective teeth in the law and will result in hefty fines for the freight railroads when they fail to give Amtrak trains priority over freight trains in the future. Join Rail Passengers Association (I am posting this as an individual not in any official capacity of RPA, altho I am a member) in calling on your congressional Representatives and Senators and tell their offices that the freight railroads are ignoring the law when they hold up Amtrak trains. Ask them to support Sen. Durbin's Preference Enforcement Amendment (Amendment No. 2190), which doesn't change the law but just gives Amtrak the right to go to court to protect your right to be on time.
This post is intended to highlight these illegal delays to Amtrak trains on a day to day basis. Here are the delays for the past approximately 24 hours caused specifically, in whole or in part, by freight train interference as cited by Amtrak on Amtrak Alerts (amtrak.com):
#306 1 hr
#508 2 hrs, 15 mins
#364 30 mins
#80 2hrs, 10 mins
#53 (no elapsed time of delay reported but indicated by Amtrak Alerts as a freight train delay)
#503 50 mins
#4 (8/3) (no elapsed time of delay reported but indicated by Amtrak Alerts as a freight train delay)
Notes to the above:
Only trains specifically indicated by Amtrak Alerts as suffering from freight train delays are listed. Delays caused by weather, vehicle/pedestrian accidents, mechanical breakdowns to Amtrak equipment, etc. are not listed.
Delays for which Amtrak Alerts does not list a cause are not listed. No doubt some of these "cause not indicated" delays were caused by freight train interference, but without an assertion by Amtrak Alerts that that was the case they will not go on the list.
Trains can be delayed for multiple reasons in the course of their journeys. The times indicated are the total times of all delays, so, while some trains may have been partially delayed by non freight train interference factors some, if not all, of the delay was caused by freight train interference as reported by Amtrak. Amtrak Alerts does not specify which part of a delay was caused by freight train interference.
