"More than one in four Amtrak trains are late" says the Business Traveller

[Qapla]

https://www.businesstraveller.com/b...more-than-one-in-four-amtrak-trains-are-late/


Not that we didn't already know this ... but the article makes a couple good points

 

[andytiedye]

Only 1 in 4?

 

[tricia]

Only 1 in 4?

That includes NE corridor. More than half of the long-distance trains are late.

Does anyone here know how the costs estimated in this article compare to what the freight companies who own the tracks pay in penalties for delaying Amtrak trains when their dispatchers give freight trains priority?

 

[cfomahm]

A short and not very informative article. 1 in 4 are late. How late? 1min, 2 hours? NEC or long distance trains? They give no breakdown of the data.

Article says an average of 49 minutes. On the NEC that would be unacceptable, but traveling cross country it is no big deal.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Link to original article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/tran...ays-are-costing-millions-dollars-report-says/

Link to original report: https://amtrakoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/OIG-A-2020-001 OTP mandate.pdf

 

[neroden]

That includes NE corridor. More than half of the long-distance trains are late.

Does anyone here know how the costs estimated in this article compare to what the freight companies who own the tracks pay in penalties for delaying Amtrak trains when their dispatchers give freight trains priority?

Once I saw a leak of Amtrak's charge schedule for train delays with one of the freight railroads.

The delay charges are pitifully small, far smaller than would affect any business decisions.

Amtrak is required by law to charge penalties to the freight railroads for late trains; I do not know why they complied with this law in the most minimal and perfunctory way possible, but apparently that's what they did. Probably some historical politics with the freight railroads.

 

[soletsky]

Link to original article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/tran...ays-are-costing-millions-dollars-report-says/

Link to original report: https://amtrakoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/OIG-A-2020-001 OTP mandate.pdf

Thank you so much for the link to the OIG report -- fascinating!

 

[MARC Rider]

It should be pointed out that if Amtrak can save money by improving on-time performance, they can use the savings to improve the on-board service (better flex dining, anyone?) thereby attracting more customers (and more revenue.) Better OTP in and of itself should also increase ridership and revenue.

 

[tricia]

Once I saw a leak of Amtrak's charge schedule for train delays with one of the freight railroads.

The delay charges are pitifully small, far smaller than would affect any business decisions.

Amtrak is required by law to charge penalties to the freight railroads for late trains; I do not know why they complied with this law in the most minimal and perfunctory way possible, but apparently that's what they did. Probably some historical politics with the freight railroads.

How long ago did you see that? And does anyone have any knowledge about whether the charges might have changed since then?

Obviously, in a fairer world, the charges would cover the delays' costs to Amtrak, plus a penalty.

 

[JRR]

Thank you so much for the link to the OIG report -- fascinating!

I don’t think the Crescent is ever on time going north, at least in Greenville SC. I pretty much checked it almost every day this summer, and I never saw that it was on time or even close. I recall that one day it was only 35 minutes late into Greenville and that was the only time it was less than an hour late.

As I posted elsewhere, a Conductor told me that if they are only 2 hours late, they consider that as being on time!

 

[west point]

I don’t think the Crescent is ever on time going north, at least in Greenville SC. I pretty much checked it almost every day this summer, and I never saw that it was on time or even close. I recall that one day it was only 35 minutes late into Greenville and that was the only time it was less than an hour late.

As I posted elsewhere, a Conductor told me that if they are only 2 hours late, they consider that as being on time!

Oh come on now since Jan 1 #20 was on time twice once in July and once om Sep. Isn't that just great ?

 

[neroden]

I don't remember the exact year but I know it was a post-2010 document, so it wasn't that long ago. Sadly I doubt it's changed much. I wish I remembered *which* class I it was, since the deals might be different with different carriers depending on the attitude at the freight railroad management. (It wasn't BNSF, I remember that.)

 

[tricia]

I don't remember the exact year but I know it was a post-2010 document, so it wasn't that long ago. Sadly I doubt it's changed much. I wish I remembered *which* class I it was, since the deals might be different with different carriers depending on the attitude at the freight railroad management. (It wasn't BNSF, I remember that.)

Thanks for following up. Sad indeed.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I remember a few years ago, Amtrak had a little "chat" with the owners of the tracks long the east coast (CSX?). After that, the Silvers started to run at, or ahead, of schedule. However, that only lasted like 6 months, and then on-time performance went back to the way it use to be.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Oh come on now since Jan 1 #20 was on time twice once in July and once om Sep. Isn't that just great ?

What's your definition of "on time"? A Crescent arrived within 24 hours of its scheduled time?

 

[JRR]

Oh come on now since Jan 1 #20 was on time twice once in July and once om Sep. Isn't that just great ?

You may be right but it is projected to be about 3 hrs late tonite!

 

[pL86]

As a daily commuter between New York and Philadelphia, the lateness of the trains is my biggest frustration. I used to commute using the bus and I will say the bus was more consistently on-time and less prone to mechanical breakdown. My morning train is usually 10-15 minutes behind schedule but that's less frustrating because the cause is identifiable, typically congestion and limited tunnel and platform space during the morning rush hour. What's more frustrating is the seemingly inexplicable delays late at night when you would think congestion shouldn't be a factor. Take for example, what happened to 177 yesterday October 30, which starts from Boston and ends in DC.

https://asm.transitdocs.com/train/2019/10/30/177

The train was hit by engine trouble after arriving on-time in New London, CT. It departed 1:15 late and then got delayed again in New Haven where they replaced the engine, pushing 177 almost two hours behind schedule. That's obviously horrible if you're a passenger but one would think the upside would be train traffic being light at that point so the train could make up some time. Instead, the train kept arriving later and later. This is how late the train arrived at points of interest:

NYP 2:07 late
PHL 2:22
WILM 2:35
BALTIMORE 2:44
WASH 2:33 (arrived at 4:21am)

Why does this happen? Between Philadelphia and Wilmington, the scheduled travel time is 21 minutes yet the train fell behind another 13 minutes, almost 66% of the travel time. This is at 2:00am in the morning. What could possibly cause the train to get slower and slower at this hour? 177 is a particularly bad example but I see a similar pattern frequently, where trains running late at night fall further behind schedule. I don't like to impute the motives of Amtrak professionals, many of whom I am friendly with as a daily commuter, but is there a perverse financial incentive at play here that pushes the engineer to run the train slower and slower?

 

[PeeweeTM]

I can imagine that the train was delayed by track work. On freight-only/-mostly lines track work is mostly done in daylight. But on passanger-only/mostly lines track work is pushed towards nights, because far less trafick has to pass.

 

[Thirdrail7]

I can imagine that the train was delayed by track work. On freight-only/-mostly lines track work is mostly done in daylight. But on passanger-only/mostly lines track work is pushed towards nights, because far less trafick has to pass.

To add on to this, there is a lot of freight traffic on the NEC at night, especially between Wilmington and Baltimore. They start staging around 8pm and swell at the entry points around 9pm. They are completely unleashed by 10pm....which is the time major rack outages start occur. So, not only is a train dodging traffic. it is fighting for limited track space, which leads to numerous track changes. That means you have to slow down significantly in areas you'd cruise at track speed.

Additionally, the weather on the 30th was abysmal. This leads to wheel slip and slow acceleration, particularly since it is leaf season, which leaves (see what I did there?) an oily residue on the rail. Now, you're out of slot, constantly changing tracks and attempting to accelerate during slippery conditions.

That is how trains can lose time enroute.