WASHINGTON — Amtrak and Union Pacific have reached a settlement in their dispute over performance of the Sunset Limited and have asked the Surface Transportation Board to end its investigation into the train’s handling.
An Amtrak filing on Thursday, July 31, asks that the STB case — the first of its kind regarding host-railroad handling of a passenger train — be terminated, and says that all parties to the investigation except Canadian Pacific Kansas City have consented to the move.
The filing offers few details on the settlement, saying only that that “Union Pacific has made commitments regarding the Sunset Limited’s customer on-time performance and has further agreed to consequences if it does not meet those commitments.” It also said UP personnel who deal with Amtrak will receive “continuous education and training … to understand their responsibilities to Amtrak under federal law,” and that the two sides have agreed on a process to certify a schedule for the train.
“Amtrak therefore believes that the parties have achieved an outcome … fully consistent with the purposes of an investigation” under the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, the filing says.
A joint statement from Amtrak and UP on Friday, Aug., 1, reflects much of the same wording as the STB filing: “Amtrak and Union Pacific are pleased with a settlement regarding customer on-time performance for Amtrak’s Sunset Limited Service. As a result, Amtrak requested the Surface Transportation Board (STB) close its investigation. Union Pacific is committed to improving customer on-time performance for the Sunset Limited, as well as continuous training and education for employees with responsibilities to Amtrak under federal law. Amtrak and Union Pacific express their gratitude to the STB for its time and attention to this matter.”
Amtrak asked the STB to investigate what it called the “abysmal” on-time performance of the Sunset in December 2022, saying many of the delays of a train that had quarterly on-time performance rates as low as 7% over the previous year were “attributable to UP corporate decisions, operational practices, or failures that result in systemic violations of Amtrak preference rights.” [See “Amtrak asks federal regulators to investigate …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 9, 2022.
It was the first such case ever brought under a provision of the PRIAA, requiring the STB to develop its approach to handling the case, which it did in a July 2023 decision [see “STB announces investigation …,” July 11, 2023]. That decision laid out a two-stage process, with the first determining if a host railroad had failed to provide Amtrak with operating preference, and the second dealing with damages and other potential actions.”
Two years later, that investigation was still in its first stage, as “the parties engaged in party-led discovery and multiple rounds of briefing addressing various questions posed by the board,” as the Amtrak filing notes.
In its request to dismiss, Amtrak thanks the board and its staff for their work on the case, and says it appreciates “the good faith efforts of all parties, including Union Pacific, to examine the underlying performance issues on the Sunset Limited and to work collaboratively on solutions to drive sustained improvements.”
While Amtrak’s initial filing focused on Union Pacific, the STB included all parties that served as host railroads for the Sunset, no matter how briefly. That led to the involvement of BNSF Railway, Canadian National, CPKC, LA’s Metrolink, and the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad.
CPKC, in a letter filed with the STB on Friday, Aug. 1, informed the board that its decision not to join other parties in agreeing to Amtrak’s request stemmed from the fact the details of the settlement between Amtrak and Union Pacific would not be disclosed. “(W)hile not opposing the proposed dismissal,” CPKC attorney David Meyer wrote, “CPKC wished to avoid any implication that its consent constituted assent tothe undisclosed terms of Amtrak’s confidential arrangements with Union Pacific.”
— Updated Aug. 1 at 6:05 p.m. CT with CPKC filing; updated Aug. 2 at 11:51 a.m. CT with Amtrak/UP statement.
Mr Smith you always seem obsessed with discontinuing the LD trains? Why are the taxpayers outside the NEC comping your premium NEC service? The NEC carries less than 1% of the travel along that corridor, that is a waste of tax dollars in a region which is saturated with a multitude of options compared to the LD routes that serve communities with little or no other transportation options. The NEC would not be missed.
Any assistance UP gives the Sunset is a plus for a train that was once dispatched and almost always on time in the days of SP. Today’s passenger rail is no different from the passenger trains of yesteryear. Companies made sure their passenger trains were given preference and arrived according to schedule. I just can’t understand how a passenger train with it’s short length, can’t get around today’s behemoth freights, especially with PSR now being the holy grail of the Class I rail industry. Rocket Science mentality is not necessary to run a railroad, we just need people who know the world of railroading to run Amtrak. Airline CEO’s….you’re not really qualified to run a railroad, regardless of your book learning. There is so much vacant track in different places on most railroads that you can be trackside all day or night long and nothing polishes the rails. We could do better, we simply choose to focus on how many dollars are “wasted” on Amtrak long distance trains and how Amtrak is totally undependable. I agree, this organization needs reorganization from the top down. We riders are here, our “system” has just forgotten us. Look at the number of passenger trains most railroads ran daily AND ran them on schedule, all while moving ever-increasing amounts of freight. Passenger trains were abandoned by the railroads, the passengers didn’t have an opportunity to return to the convenience of train travel.
Apparently you don’t know the history of Amtrak vs. SP. It also involved the Sunset Limited, 45+ years ago. You can look the info up online…it’s out there.
In the mid to late ’70’s SP had more freight business on the Sunset Route then they could handle. There were also multiple delays to the Sunset due to freight trains breaking knuckles, pulling out drawbars, locomotive failures, derailments, you name it. The Sunset took a beating.
It’s absolutely disingenuous to suggest SP promptly handled the Sunset. There were years it absolutely DIDN’T happen unless Amtrak took SP to court.
The “schedule agreement” that both parties will work better not include Amtrak putting even more schedule padding!! The Sunset is already too slow btw San Antonio and New Orleans to convince many travelers to take it over driving or flying. 15 hours to go 572 miles is an average speed of just 38mph!!
In FY24 the Sunset Limited had an Adjusted Operating Loss of $47.8 million. It carried76,900 riders. The average subsidy per rider was $621.59. And this was before factoring in depreciation, amortizable overheads, etc. If it were not for the politics, any rational business manager would discontinue the Sunset Limited in a heartbeat. In fact, he/she would discontinue all the long-distance trains.
If Amtrak paid the investor-owned freight carriers the fully allocated cost of hosting its trains, as opposed to the marginal cost, the freight carriers would have an incentive to give Amtrak’s money losing passenger trains priority.
And if the NEC riders paid their whole fair cost, the resulting accounting would require Amtrak to dispose of the NEC to Keolis or Brightline or the like who would instantly raise prices. The NEC was bulit by freight lines. not Amtrak. Otherwise the prices would be even higher… The NEC is a giant funding sumo for the rest of the Country…
BNSF and CN need to do the same thing. Unless you are an intermodal or special shipment freight trains should never get high clearance over Amtrak. The railroads are in violation of the national passenger rail of 1975 and the stagger’s at the 1994. Both of these walls say that intermodal traffic and Amtrak gets top priority if you are a dog freight or a grain train you must take the siding to let the intermodal trains and Amtrak pass same for coal trains. If you stack the deck and place five mile long dog freights on the line you will tie up traffic and Amtrak in these intermodal trains cannot get through always keep the rails open for Amtrak and intermodal they get top priority freights must stop.
We have that same darn issue on the B.C and Seattle to Eugene line. Constant delays from freight trains. The one-time rate is horrible on the Cascades corridor.
What’s stopping Amtrak from acquiring right-of-way and building its own railroad?
Is it a coincidence that this announcement comes AFTER UP has announced its intention to acquire NS? Hmm! I guess UP did not want not to have this case before the STB when they submit their merger application. Call me a conspiracy theorist, if METRA and UP suddenly settle their ongoing dispute, too.
I was thinking the same thing!! “UP announces settlement with METRA” Should be any day now.