(The Wall Street Journal posted the following article by Daniel Machalaba on its website on August 11.)
WASHINGTON — If you are frustrated by this summer’s airport delays, don’t look to Amtrak to solve the problem.
Congestion and cargo jams on some of the nation’s largest freight railroads also are causing severe delays on some of Amtrak’s passenger trains. In July, the fourth straight month of declining punctuality for Amtrak, only 63 percent of its trains were on time, down from 74 percent in March. Amtrak said the latest figures represented its worst on-time performance in recent memory.
In much of the country, Amtrak pays to use track that is owned by the freight carriers. This means that when the freight trains are backed up or running late, it has a spillover effect on passenger travel.
Amtrak trains in various parts of the country have been running later this year, but the most severe delays have been in the Western U.S., including the California Zephyr, Coast Starlight and Sunset Limited trains. The Sunset Limited, which runs between Orlando, Fla., and Los Angeles, hasn’t been on time once during the past five months. Last month, the train, which is supposed to complete its route in 68 hours, routinely ran six to 10 hours late. Amtrak terminated one westbound trip in El Paso, Texas, when the Sunset arrived there 35 hours late – it was forced to bus and fly the passengers between El Paso and points West.
Trains on the New York-Chicago, Washington, D.C.-Chicago, and New York-Florida routes have often had delays of several hours. In the Northeast, where Amtrak owns its own tracks, the railroad’s on-time record was generally better, but for many lines it still was down from a year ago, spokesman Cliff Black said. For instance, the company’s Metroliner service from Washington, D.C., to Boston, saw its on-time record drop from 82 percent for July 2003 to 68 percent last month.
This comes at a particularly bad time for the nation’s passenger railroad, which has been trying to establish itself as a reliable alternative to planes, cars and buses. The railroad has been criticized for everything from frequent mechanical glitches to infrequent service on many routes.
Amtrak President David Gunn, who took over about two years ago, has had some success tackling these problems. Passenger traffic has risen almost 6 percent so far this year, in part because more airline travelers, fed up with security delays at airports, have been choosing to use the train instead, Amtrak says. Heading into the heart of summer, traditionally Amtrak’s busiest season, the railroad says it is headed for a record year in passenger traffic.
But the lateness problems serve as a reminder that in many ways Amtrak, which carries about 25 million passengers a year, doesn’t control its own destiny. On some routes in the Western U.S., Amtrak relies on Union Pacific Corp., the nation’s largest railroad. For months, Union Pacific has been struggling with freight jams caused by a shortage of train crews and a surge of shipping as the economy improves. In parts of the East Coast and the Midwest, Amtrak is reliant on tracks owned by CSX Corp.
Ronald K. Goodenow, who lives in Northboro, Mass., recently tried to catch the California Zephyr for a trip between Truckee, Calif., and the San Francisco Bay area. But he gave up on the train and accepted a ride from friends when the train still hadn’t arrived three hours after its scheduled departure. “It’s just a shame, because it’s really not Amtrak’s fault,” he said.
The latest delays are over and above the extra time – usually a couple hours – that Amtrak builds into the schedules of some long-distance routes to absorb normal delays. Not all of the increased lateness is due to track congestion – some of it is a function of mechanical breakdowns, faulty equipment or mishaps with Amtrak trains.
Amtrak has benefited from new Acela Express high-speed trains on its Washington-New York-Boston route. Those trains, which are able to operate at up to 150 miles per hour, serve many business travelers. The Northeast Corridor accounts for more than half of the combined Washington-New York air and train market, and is also popular with students and leisure travelers. The on-time performance of the Acela Express has improved slightly, to 66 percent in July, up from 63 percent the previous year.
Amtrak also runs a number of short- and medium-distance train services in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest and California, catering to both business and personal travel. Its 16 long-distance routes carry mostly leisure travelers and serve a combination of big cities and small rural communities.
Amtrak rewards the freight railroads for punctual arrivals with incentive payments and docks them for poor performance. Beyond these incentives and penalties, though, Amtrak says it has little control over congestions and delays.
Staff reporter Steven Church contributed to this article.