Passenger Trains > 7/16th

7/16th late out of Chicago. Locomotive or car problems?

Ed Burns

NPEDDIE Wrote:
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> 7/16th late out of Chicago. Locomotive or car
> problems?
>
> Ed Burns

Car

Race to the West Coast now so as to not put a domino of late trains into place! Hopefully Amtrak can pull it off!

Not so much up to Amtrak (assuming no train related unforseen mechanical issues). The real question is: Will BNSF allow it?

It's whether BNSF can accomodate the train being out of its regular time slot......in cases where Amtrak hands over a late train to the host railroad........

jp1822 Wrote:
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> It's whether BNSF can accomodate the train being
> out of its regular time slot......in cases where
> Amtrak hands over a late train to the host
> railroad........

A late train released from Chicago doesn't excuse BNSF from their priority obligations in my opinion. They can be annoyed and I'm sure there's a way to arbitrate such disputes with Amtrak, but there's always going to be times where there's equipment or other issues that delay departure. A late departure doesn't give a host a free ticket to stick an Amtrak train behind a 30 MPH monster freight for 90 miles. Sure some delays are going to be inevitable with an out of slot train. But it's no different if an Amtrak train gets delayed on one host - it doesn't excuse the second carrier and entitle them to play games. Freight derailments and breakdowns delay Amtrak trains regularly. I have very little sympathy for BNSF or any other carriers over Amtrak at fault delays. An intial delay at Chicago does not excuse a further 3-4 hours of delay by freight trains down the line.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/24 10:50 by lordsigma.