(The following article by Eric Anderson was posted on the Albany Times-Union website on August 10.)
RENSSELAER, N.Y. — With freight traffic booming, temperatures in the 90s, and track work to be done, this hasn’t been a good summer for Amtrak across upstate New York.
Many passenger trains are running 30 to 90 minutes late, and some delays are even greater.
On Tuesday afternoon, Train 48 from Chicago to Albany was running 2 hours and 40 minutes late. Meanwhile, Train 286 from Buffalo to Albany was running 2 hours and 47 minutes behind schedule, on a trip that’s supposed to take 5 hours and 15 minutes.
“I have to live the pain every day,” said Jim Turngren, who manages Amtrak’s Empire Corridor service across upstate New York. After some relief, “it’s going back to worse,” he added.
Turngren said Amtrak President David Gunn has written several letters to Michael Ward, chief executive of CSX Corp., about the problem.
While an Amtrak spokeswoman blamed the delays largely on track maintenance work, Turngren said increasing congestion along the line is also playing a part.
“There are 75 to 80 freight trains … through a 24-hour period in this corridor,” he said. When the route was owned by Conrail, some trains would use an alternate route through the Southern Tier. But Norfolk Southern, a CSX competitor, owns that route now.
“Their system is overwhelmed with the amount of freight they’re trying to move,” Turngren said.
CSX spokesman Gary Sease said 50 to 60 freight trains use the route, but that with freight shipments up and track maintenance reducing parts of the line to a single track, it has been congested.
Another source of delays has been the hot weather this summer. When temperatures climb above 90, passenger trains must slow down as a safety precaution. That can add another 20 to 30 minutes to the trip.
Trains also are slowing down during heavy rainstorms, as a precaution against possible track washouts.
Amtrak conductors are making more frequent announcements to passengers to keep them updated on delays, Turngren said. Posters also alert passengers about possible delays, and scheduled running times have been stretched out.
An Amtrak spokeswoman, Marcie Golgoski, said the track work between Albany and Buffalo is expected to be complete by Sept. 5. “That’s the date they’ve given us,” she said, referring to CSX.
CSX’s Sease said the work, necessary for safety and reliability, is winding up. “That’s probably a good date.”