A Conductor Comments on Empire Builder Delays.
Amtrak has added between 90 minutes and three hours to the schedule of the Empire Builder in an effort to regain some semblance of on-time performance. As we all know, that train has been running many hours late because of freight congestion occurring across North Dakota. On March 27, the St. Paul Star-Tribune ran a story reporting in the Empire Builder’s new schedule. What follows is a comment that appeared in response to the online version of that article. The person responsible for the comment was identified only as “MNConductor”. I don’t necessarily endorse this point of view; I do find it provocative and worthy of consideration.
“Those of us who actually work in the railroad industry know what’s really happening: The General Code of Operating Rules (GCOR) is recognized by all US railroads as the foundation of railroad operating rules. It’s a basic rule that passenger trains have ABSOLUTE PRIORITY over freight and must not be delayed…period. If they are, the freight railroad over whose tracks Amtrak operates is fined by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
“What BNSF and all the other railroads have known for decades is that violating this rule to move their freight and taking the fine is still more profitable than obeying this GCOR rule! And that’s IF there’s an executive administration even willing to enforce it at all.
“AND WHAT’S MORE, this strategy by the freight railroads has another huge benefit. For decades, Amtrak trains have been abused by the major freight railroads so badly that public opinion has turned against Amtrak, now seen as an outdated and redundant money pit…AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT THE FREIGHT RAILROADS WANT YOU TO THINK!! And it’s working.
“And now in the post-9/11 US that will see its population double (likely triple) by century’s end, Amtrak is starting to show some profitability, but there’s some sort of financial glass ceiling that is keeping Amtrak from buying new and more reliable equipment and increasing seat capacity past that ceiling – which is the key to profitability.
“And look what’s happening now…Republicans continue to wage jihad on Amtrak while freight railroads delay trains even harder. Imagine that – Republicans and Big Business together against the public good. … ”
First. I am a loyal train traveler, 130K miles + across the U.S. on Amtrak over 30+ years. Regarding the conductor comments:
And now on to the CP (Crush Passengers) Canadian Pacific segment where apparently the person(s) working on rescheduling this train paid no attention to the issues east of St. Paul. How long before time is added east because the law will not be upheld or more specifically there is simply no interest on anyone’s part to save this service? Save it? Yes, a significant portion of ridership on this train ridership is at risk, much like trains 1 & 2 of years ago on the Union Pacific. Even faithful riders will find alternatives in this service environment, not to mention fare hikes in recent years. And, is anyone in management tracking the first four days of eastbound performance with 180 minutes added?
17th MSP apparently cancelled
18th MSP 97″ CHI 238″
19th MSP 28″ CHI 51″
20th St. Cloud 3’11” MSP 1’47” ETA CHI Now 6:12P
Westbound times in Seattle
17th 408″
18th 227″
19th 285″
20th ETA 303″
And remember 180″ added westbound. Really? Is anyone paying attention? Maybe the James J. Hill family descendants would like to have the Empire Builder name pulled from use due to the sorry state of affairs.
Re: St. Paul? Beautiful building. Ticket and Baggage areas-too small. Passenger flow from street to train and back? About as long a time and distance for passengers as Chicago Union Station. Dwell times will increase, passengers will be frustrated, and parking is big bucks. The train has a lot of positives overall, but this route is in trouble for some time to come. Megabus, Jefferson and Greyhound are just a few
steps away in St. Paul Union Depot. Air service from MSP? Not pure Delta like some people believe. Plenty of choices for MKE, CHI, SPK, SEA. Comfort convenience? Value? Check the ridership stats for 2014 next January.