Delays cost Amtrak millions of dollars, reduce ridership, and cause problems with allocating crew and train cars. A 2019 audit found that only about 46% of Amtrak’s long-distance trains arrive on time, and about 60% of delays are caused by freight railroads. Most of Amtrak’s trackage is in the Northeast Corridor, where it has performed much better.
Norfolk Southern spokesman Tom Closson said in a statement that the company is “committed to following the law, cooperating and keeping our commitments,” adding that delays have decreased in recent months.
The Crescent operated twice daily, once north to New York and once south to New Orleans. The Crescent route carried 272,000 passengers. 2023According to Amtrak, this is average for a long-distance train.
When Amtrak was founded in 1970, railroads no longer had to provide passenger service across the US, but instead had to contract with Amtrak to give priority to Amtrak passenger trains on their own tracks. Amtrak has repeatedly accused railroads of ignoring the law, alleging that violations cause about 15,000 hours of delays a year.
Most of the delays occurred south of Atlanta, where trains run on a single track and Northern Southern Railroad prioritizes freight maintenance over passenger speed, according to the Justice Department.
In January, an Amtrak train was delayed nearly an hour after it was forced to follow a slow-moving Norfolk Southern freight train for several miles outside New Orleans, according to the lawsuit. In February, a Crescent train outside Atlanta was delayed 80 minutes because a freight train was blocking access to the station’s platform, the lawsuit said. Last year, passengers in Mississippi were delayed nearly two hours because they had to wait for a freight train to refuel.
Amtrak passengers are being “subjected to unacceptable, unnecessary and unlawful delays,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. It said in a statementHe said giving priority to passenger trains under the 1973 law was “unfair at best.”
The only time the Department of Justice has used litigation to enforce the law was in 1979, in a case involving the Sunset Limited route from New York to Texas.
“This important action by the Department of Justice will help ensure that our customers get to their destinations on time,” Amtrak CEO Steven Gardner said in a statement.
Amtrak is getting a big cash infusion under President Biden, who once commuted to Washington by rail, but its ability to expand is limited because most of the country’s rail lines are owned by private freight companies.
Norfolk Southern was sued by the Department of Justice last year for causing extensive environmental damage when a freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The lawsuit was settled for roughly $310 million.
Perry Stein contributed to this report.
