In my view Amtrak should fix Amtrak caused delays on a specific routing before it points a finger at freight railroads. It's like throwing a stone in a glass house. How can you make a legal argument that freight trains are getting in your way some days when other days your late passenger train is getting in the way of their freights.........it is kind of silly to me.
How many delays of Amtrak trains are caused solely by Amtrak's problems? How many are caused by the freight roads' problems?
Except in one instance, the only times I have been delayed when riding Amtrak the delays were the results of the freight roads' problems; the instance arose when a man stepped in front of the train I was riding as we coming to a station stop, and we were delayed four hours because of his death.
Of course, the last time I left Chicago on #5, we could have left on time instead of two hours late--both the Capitol Limited and the Lake Shore Limited were late, and #5 was held so the passengers who were transferring would not have to spend a night in Chicago. I am sure that the passengers who were changing from one train to the other did not think it was silly that they were able to make the connection. Which road was at fault?
Johnny
According to Amtrak's Delays to Amtrak's Trains by Type and Responsible Party, 72.9 per cent of the delays in FY14 were due to host railroad problems, i.e. slow orders, freight train interference, signals, etc., 22 per cent were due to Amtrak's problems, i.e. passenger related, engine failure, etc., and the remainder were due to other factors.
Based on a somewhat hard to read graph that accompanies the aforementioned report, it appears that locomotive failures were responsible for approximately 14 per cent of the delays attributable to Amtrak.
Of course the Amtrak reports are based on Amtrak data which comes from the opinion of the conductor on board the train at the time.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
oltmannd Of course the Amtrak reports are based on Amtrak data which comes from the opinion of the conductor on board the train at the time.
How do you know that? Presumably the delays are recorded by Amtrak, as well as the host railroad. Since the performance incentives are a function of delay avoidence, they are subject to an independent audit. I doubt that the information is just ginned by Amtrak's conductor. I doubt that the host railroads, as well as Amtrak, don't verify the data.
Yep. I have caught Amtrak's conductors lying on delay reports before.
An "expensive model collector"
n012944 oltmannd Of course the Amtrak reports are based on Amtrak data which comes from the opinion of the conductor on board the train at the time. Yep. I have caught Amtrak's conductors lying on delay reports before.
In what capacity? How often did you detect an Amtrak conductor lying about the cause of a delay, i.e. what per cent of the total incidents did you detect? Was it a one-off or a wide spread problem. Were your observations taken from the system as a whole, i.e. every route that Amtrak runs, or was it confined to just one host railroad or one division of a host railroad?
Were you able to project your sample - hopefully it was more than one - to the system as a whole to determine the extent of misreporting?
Was the discrepancy that you noted subsequently picked up by an Amtrak auditor or an auditor for the host railroad.
The Amtrak incentive payments to the host carriers are determined by on-time performance. Obviously, if the problem is Amtrak's, it would not affect the incentive payment to the host carrier. On the other hand, if the host railroad is at fault, it would have an impact on the incentive.
Amtrak and the host railroads have a strong motive to audit the delay reports to make sure that they are reasonable. Auditors don't catch everything, but if there is wide spread cheating, they are likely to uncover it over time.
I looked at the conductors delay report that was faxed in after the completion of his trip. Some of the delays were misrepresented as to what really went on. This has occured several times by more than one conductor. I pointed it out to the chief and director on duty. I do not know, nor really care, what was done with the information.
Having had the opportunity to view the Amtrak Conductors reports, with first hand knowledge of the events the reports were based on; the reports sometimes mistated the facts, other times 'shaded' the facts and in other cases hid Amtrak responsibility for the delay - in most cases it was the difference in NBC News and FOX News reporting the same event.
Each party has their own version of THE TRUTH.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
It would not surprise me that Conductors are not always truthful in their reports I remember long ago riding the Seminole Gulf railway and the conductor explaining to passengers that the rough ride was because the converted RDC we were riding on was used to higher speeds. Of course it had nothing to do with their wretched track. Conductors are going to by human nature, protect the company they work for, IMO.
Now NS is going to delay 29 & 30 next Monday and tuesday 1 - 2 hours more.
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I don't have access to conductors report, but as a frequent capital ltd rider both CSX and ns delay the train. When the train leaves DC or Chicago on time and lose time even with large station dwell time built into the schedule thier an issue. When the train is stopped for lengthy amounts of time thier an issue. When the train is running or crawling along thier an issue. I am sure Amtrak has contributed to the issue. But when they depart thier respective terminals on time and arrive consistently late its time to look at how the train is handled over the road. Conrail had no regular on time performance issues. Csx/ns had no issues even after the buy out.
These railroads can't even get their own trains over the road on time. Amtrak is caught in the middle.
narig01In the delay column of things beyond control. This mornings NB Eagle has been involved in a fiery grade crossing accident north of Austin, Tx. http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/283863141.html It looks like the SB has been delayed as well. Rgds IGN
Thanks for this information. I wondered what had happened to #22.
I was in Dallas yesterday for a one day turn around. On the way back to Georgetown, I-35 was an absolute mess, so I got off of it at the Loop 363 intersection, which is just north of Temple, and drove around Temple to pick-up TX 95.
I got to Bartlett at approximately 6:30 p.m. TX 95 was still blocked by the DPS and local fuzz. Traffic was being routed around the accident scene on County Roads 487, 301, and 387.
If the accident happened around 1 p.m., as per the news article, #22 would have been running nearly two hours late. It must have been a horrific accident to have kept the highway closed for more than five or six hours.
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