Norfolk Southern Sued Over Amtrak Delays

The northbound Amtrak Crescent passenger train was 50 minutes late arriving at the historic train station on Tuscaloosa's southside this afternoon. It was not an unusual occurrence and that is the reason for a federal lawsuit against Norfolk Southern, the railroad that takes the Crescent through West Alabama.

The on-time performance record for the Amtrak national railway passenger service between New Orleans and New York City is abysmal. Anyone who has waited one to two or more hours for the Crescent to arrive in Tuscaloosa, either north or southbound, can attest to that.

Now the U.S, Justice Department, blaming Norfolk Southern Corporation for giving lengthy freight trains the right-of-way over passenger train service, has sued the railroad due to the consistent delays. The suit states that the railroad regularly violates federal law that requires Norfolk-Southern and other railroads to give priority to Amtrak passenger trains.

“Americans should not experience travel delays because rail carriers break the law,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland stated in a release accompanying announcement of the lawsuit.

Amtrak officials praised the lawsuit and voiced anticipation that it can lead to better on-time performance and fewer significant delays that costs the taxpayer funded passenger rail service plenty.

In a written response to the suit, Norfolk-Southern spokesperson Tom Crosson wrote, “Norfolk Southern is committed to complying with the law requiring passenger trains to get priority and helping expand passenger rail.”

According to Amtrak, a sliding scale is used to calculate on-time performance. Trips under 250 miles are considered late if they are more than 10 minutes behind schedule and up to 30 minutes for trips over 551 miles in length. The Crescent is often hours overdue.

The north and southbound Crescent passenger trains make stops in Tuscaloosa once each way daily but those who frequently use the trains say they always build in an extra two to three hours to their travel plans for expected consistent extended delays.

Delays can result from equipment malfunction, weather, accidents and rail problems but the vast majority of delays come from freight train interference. Amtrak does not have dedicated tracks outside of the Northeast and parts of Michigan and Indiana and uses the same rails as the freight trains.

The civil complaint by the justice department filed in Federal District Court in Washington D.C. last week, alleges, “Norfolk Southern regularly fails to give the Crescent preference over freight trains as required by statute, leading to delays that harm and inconvenience passengers, impede passenger rail transportation and negatively affect Amtrak’s financial performance.”

Norfolk Southern controls 1,140 of the Crescent’s 1,377 travel miles. That includes the entire portion of the route between Alexandria, VA and New Orleans.  The suit claims records reveal only 24% of Amtrak’s trains using Norfolk Southern rails arrive within an on-time window.

Numerous examples of significant delays are included in the suit, documenting lengthy periods of time when Norfolk Southern sidetracked Crescent for hours to allow several freight trains to pass.

The lawsuit also alleges the Crescent is routinely slowed well below track speed limit due to being required to follow slower freight trains that had been allowed to pass ahead.

“For half a century, federal law has required freight rail companies to give Amtrak passenger rail service preference on their tracks — yet compliance with this important law has been uneven at best,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “We will continue to engage the railroad industry and work with Amtrak to ensure that freight railroads comply with their legal obligations and that Amtrak customers are not subjected to unacceptable, unnecessary, and unlawful delays.”

The railroad, in Crosson’s written statement, claims they are committed to complying with the law, working together, and honoring their commitments. He also pledges the railroad has focused on the on-time Crescent performance over the past several months. “We hope to resolve these concerns and continue to make progress together,” he wrote.

Similar legal action was previously taken against Southern Pacific Railroad over freight trains hindering on-time performance by Sunset Limited between New Orleans and Houton. It was dismissed by a consent order after there was an improvement in passenger train right-of-way performance by the railroad.

Until 1971, passenger trains were operated by the same railroads that operated the freight trains. They maintained exemplary on-time schedules for more than a century. Declining ridership in favor of airlines resulted in railroads looking to divest themselves of passenger trains.

In the early days after Amtrak took over the vast majority of passenger train services in the U.S., on-time performance remained acceptable. However, they began to deteriorate as railroads prioritized their big money maker, freight trains. It got worse when it became obvious the law requiring priority to Amtrak was not being enforced.

A bill proposed in congress last year would have allowed Amtrak to begin directly enforcing the rules, but it stalled in the Republican controlled house.

If you are traveling via the Amtrak Crescent, you can click here for your train’s status.