Back in the early 1970s, in exchange for the government’s permission to quit carrying passengers, the nation’s railroads agreed to allow Amtrak trains to run on their tracks for modest-but-fair payments. As their part of the deal, the railroads agreed that the dispatchers controlling the movements of all the trains in their area would give…
Those of us working as advocates for passenger trains often argue—and with valid reason—that bad weather has less impact on train travel than on travel by highway or by plane. However, passenger trains do run into weather related problems—heavy rains in the northwest trigger mudslides that cover the tracks and “service interruptions” in the midwest…
Well, of course, when it comes to On Time Performance, there’s always room for improvement and, with a few of the long-distance trains, there’s still room for a LOT of improvement. But think back two or three years. Remember? Amtrak was struggling with chronically late trains, especially the long-distance trains running in and out…
Airline pilots are only permitted to be work for a specific number of hours. In most instances, a two-person crew can only be on duty for no more than ten hours in a 24-hour period. It’s the same for a railroad engineer—in fact, for the entire operating crew, which includes the engineer, the assistant…