(The following report by Chip Jones appeared on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website on May 15.)
RICHMOND, Va. — The heat is on CSX Corp. for imposing temperature-related slowdowns this week for passenger and commuter trains between Richmond and Washington despite relatively mild temperatures.
The Virginia Railway Express’ on-time performance lagged from Monday to yesterday. Amtrak reported that 44 trains ran slightly behind schedule this week in the corridor. The VRE – with a daily ridership of 15,500 in Northern Virginia – is worried that the speed restrictions are based on weather forecasts that sometimes miss the mark.
VRE commuter trains must slow down by 20 mph when the heat orders are given, which cuts train speeds by one-third.
CSX, the Florida-based railroad, owns the track used by the passenger and weather conditions.
Because steel rails slowly expand and contract as temperatures rise and fall, potentially dangerous “kinks” can form that can derail cars, as happened in the summer of 2002 when trains derailed in Florida and Maryland with some fatalities.
The Northern Virginia railway is concerned it could face a summer full of delays.
“It’s May, and we’re dealing with this,” VRE spokesman Mark Roeber said. “What’s going to happen when we get to the hot weather?”
VRE’s top executive, Dale Zehner, has been trying to “get some clarity on the issue before we actually hit the dog days of summer,” Roeber said.
CSX officials defended their practices yesterday and said they are “for the safety of the commuters and Amtrak passengers.”
Spokeswoman Misty Skipper said CSX places speed restrictions when it sees a forecast of 90 degrees or more. The railroad typically checks forecasts the night before a hot day is expected, she said.
The next morning, it reviews the prediction before placing restrictions that last from 1 p.m. through 7 p.m.
The VRE said the restrictions slowed its service and upset some passengers this week.
Spokesman Roeber said the Fredericksburg line posted a 64 percent on-time mark, compared with a usual 90 percent of trains running on time.
Riders “are starting to voice their opinion,” he said. But rather than hurting ridership, the passen- ger count was slightly above average this week.
A spat between the VRE and CSX in 2003 led state rail officials to broker new operating procedures, including improved communications.
Now, Roeber said, CSX appears to be restricting passenger train speeds when temperatures are forecast to be up to 90 degrees but don’t necessarily hit that mark.
“With it being so nebulous, it’s very hard for us to have a consistent operation,” the VRE spokesman said.
At times this week, temperatures fell into the 70s, he said, “yet heat restrictions remained in place” for the last train out of Union Station in Washington after 7 p.m.
The VRE fears “an entire summer at the mercy of speculative forecasts,” he said. “If it’s 90 degrees and a cool front moves through . . . shouldn’t it be lifted?”
CSX spokeswoman Skipper said, “We’re following a policy, and we have no intention to change that policy.”
Amtrak spokesman Dan Stessel said the slowdowns have created some congestion and delays for CSX freight trains, which share the tracks.
Most of Amtrak’s delays were between five to 10 minutes long, he said, with a handful in the 20- to 75-minute range.
Amtrak, which owns its own track in the Northeast, has a different way of responding to heat concerns.
“We don’t do it based on weather reports; we do it based on the actual temperature,” Stessel said.
Norfolk Southern Corp., which owns part of the track used by VRE in Manassas, also imposes heat orders after on-track inspections, a spokesman said.