News About the Empire Builder? Still Bad.
Are you sick of reading about the problems the Empire Builder is having? Not half as sick as I am writing about them, I can assure you. The thing is, it’s an intolerable situation and it just cannot go on. But it doesn’t seem to be improving.
There are four Empire Builder consists somewhere on the 2200-mile route at almost any given time – two westbound and two eastbound. Regardless of which direction they’ve been heading, the on-time performance hasn’t been too bad . . . until they get to North Dakota. And that’s when it all turns to … well …the Hawaiian word is kukae.
Today, one of the westbound trains left Minneapolis/St. Paul on time. By the time it had crossed North Dakota and reached Williston, it was running nearly six hours behind schedule.
If that’s got you shaking your head, yesterday an eastbound Builder arrived in Chicago almost 12-and-a-half hours late.
The weather has been awful – heavy snows and even an avalanche have caused some of the trouble – but the real problem is an extraordinary amount of freight traffic, 100-car trains loaded with crude oil.
Yes, BNSF owns the tracks. And, yes, the railroad has spent and will continue to spend many millions on upgrading the route. But you can bet the farm that money is to move their trains more efficiently and not Amtrak’s.
Some weeks ago, NARP – the National Association of Railroad Passengers – publically complained that crude oil is being given priority over people. And that, in a nutshell, is the issue.
There’s a frazzled mother with two kids riding in coach. Try telling her that she and her kids are going to be six, eight, ten, or maybe even twelve hours late, because getting a dozen trains carrying a zillion gallons of crude oil are more important.
Then duck.
In the legislation that created Amtrak back in the early 70s, the freight railroads agreed that Amtrak trains would be given priority. In theory, BNSF (as well as the other Class I railroads) are still legally bound by the requirement. The thing is, they could do it if they wanted to.
> publically complained that crude oil is
> being given priority over people
But they own the right-of-way, that crude is their revenue product.
Has anyone asked, given the givens, aked the hard question of if the Empire Builder is a sustainable route? In its current state it is a bouquet of roses for Amtrak – and passenger rail – detractors.
Perhaps, until there is a serviceable right-of-way it is time to call it. It has been a very long time since the Empire Builder, at least east-bound, has been a functional transportation solution.