jis
Permanent Way Inspector
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IMHO what the BNSF guy says is utter poppycock, to use a British phrase. The law was poorly written (as even NARP agrees) in the enthusiasm to ensure that Amtrak had full control and veto power, which it should not have been given. Someone over reached and they got slapped down. That's what courts are for. I'd have been really worried if the courts let that one through, no matter how much I want Amtrak trains to run on time. This has been my position consistently, I know, much to the chagrin of many around here.A very interesting comment posted on the Facebook Empire Builder group from someone who says they are a BNSF employee. Referring to the standards mandated by PRIIA section 207, which were voided by a court [PDF decision] because they put Amtrak in a regulatory role, the poster says:
I can't vouch for the accuracy of the statement, but it does seem to make sense, unfortunately.All these service standards were thrown out in court because BNSF knew this mess was going to happen long before the Bakken even started producing oil. Now the tracks are so bad from all the freight traffic they are closing the line due to broken rails and sink holes. It really is bad.
Incidentally there was a lot of good work done as a result of PRIIA 207, which can be put into effect if someone would get off their duffs and do something about it by adopting an amended 207 as part of MAP 21 or something like that. I draw your attention to this extremely informative document to get a sense of the immense amount of collaborative work that has been done in this subject area consequent upon PRIIA 207: http://www.fra.dot.gov/Elib/Document/1511 .
One thing that stands out in the language of the document is how FRA and Amtrak are given equal footing in the standard setting activity, which is what the complaint essentially was about. Once that hindrance is removed it is very likely that a lot of the results of this work can be moved forward to deployment and execution.