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Until about one year ago, I worked for Amtrak in Portland, OR. Dealing with the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Seattle and the Empire Builder from Chicago to Portland was like night and day. For the year 2002 I believe we did an unofficial calculation of the northbound Starlight's average late arrival into Portland for the year and it was 3 hours and 20 minutes. The Empire Builder was almost always on time or very close to it. If the Builder was late, there was usually a good reason-weather, unusual mechanical problem, etc. The Starlight's delay was largely but not entirely attributable to the UP. CP and BNSF own the Builder's route and both railoads did a very good job of operating the Builder on time a priority. I have a feeling that this speaks volumes of how both CP and BNSF operate their freight trains. UP operates the Starlight from Los Angeles as far as Portland, with the BNSF operating the train Portland-Seattle. On UP, operating Amtrak on time was obviously not a priority. While not all Starlight delays can be blamed on UP, I would say well over half the delays were preventable. Another comparison is the Amtrak Cascades corridor. Seattle-Portland trains generally run on time or close to it as BNSF owns the tracks. South of Portland to Eugene, UP owns the tracks and frequently hammers all passenger trains with delays.
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