KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Amtrak has recognized CPKC as its top host railroad in 2024, the ninth straight year the company or predecessor Canadian Pacific has topped the annual host railroad report card.
CPKC was the only railroad to receive an “A” grade on the 2024 report card, although the other five Class I rairloads all scored between a B+ and B-. Railroads are graded on the number of host-responsible delays per 10,000 train miles.
“It takes a strong and focused team to deliver consistently high performance, and CPKC has shown its dedication to that task, having now won the Top Performing Amtrak Host Railroad award for 9 years in a row, every year since the award’s inception,” Amtrak President Roger Harris said in a CPKC press release on Harris’ Aug. 21 visit to CPKC’s U.S. operations center in Kansas City to present the award.
Danny Torres, CPKC vice president transportation, hosted Harris’ tour. He said, “CPKC is honored to once again receive this recognition of the success we have a host railroad providing industry-leading service to Amtrak on our lines.”
CPKC hosts portions of Amtrak’s Empire Builder, Borealis, Hiawatha service, Ethan Allen Express, and Adirondack, accounting for 10 daily round trips.
VIA Rail Canada would do well to return the ‘Canadian’ to its original route on CPKC (nèe Canadian Pacific Railway). Canadian National, formerly pro-passenger in the 1960s before privatisation, has been a bad host to VIA.
For what it’s worth, I’ve noticed more than a few times BNSF delivers #8 at MSP on time (technically BNSF’s responsibility for 7 & 8 begins/ends at St. Anthony 7 miles west of Union Depot) and CPKC loses time
Just saying.
Wow. That’s a huge long rant just to be another Negative Nancy complainer. (News flash, no one is going to read that long rant).
Would you rather that CPKC was worse? Maybe the other host railroad should stop sucking. That might be a good idea.
It’s about judging all the railroads equitably. While an exact apples-to-apples comparison might not be possible, a general acknowledgement of the differences in infrastructure, topography, route length, and freight traffic volume would make the “award” more meaningful. It also assumes that Amtrak adequately compensates all the freight railroads for operating its trains on time. That the railroad with the fewest number of Amtrak route miles, the least amount of freight traffic, and the easiest operating profiles has “won” for nine consecutive years is not a coincidence. Nor does it appear to be having any effect on the other Class I railroads, which obviously understand that this is just a PR ploy by Amtrak.
And thanks for not reading my post, but responding anyway.
Actually, someone DID read the “long rant”. I for one, found it interesting and a cogent point of view. Not sure I fully agree with the findings, but I wouldn’t know if I didn’t read it.
News flash: Not everyone has the short Millennial/Zoomer attention span that you seem to profess.
This is a great example of “needs context.” CPKC getting the top marks for Amtrak performance is like all the courses in a high school being weighted the same whether it’s Algebra I or Advanced Calculus and then just taking the cumulative grades to declare valedictorian.
No other Class I railroad handles Amtrak for fewer route miles than does CPKC. The actual number of route miles with Amtrak passenger trains is 562. There are basically two routes: Schenectady, NY to Rouses Point, NY, 178 miles (Adirondack Schenectady to Rouses Point, and Ethan Allen Express Schenectady to Whitehall, NY) and Rondout, IL to Merriam Park, MN, 384 miles (Empire Builder Rondout to Merriam Park, Borealis Rondout to St. Paul, and Hiawatha Service Rondout to Milwaukee). The mileage is from the latest Amtrak Host Railroad Report:
https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/corporate/HostRailroadReports/July-2025-Amtrak-Host-Railroad-Report.pdf
But this isn’t the whole story, either. For Amtrak trains operating between Chicago and Milwaukee, CPKC is responsible for only 53 miles (Rondout to Milwaukee); Metra is responsible for 33 miles, Chicago to Rondout. Using the July data as an example, delays Rondout to Milwaukee are only 178 minutes per 10,000 train miles, well below the target of 900. But in its 33 miles of responsibility, Metra performs badly, well in excess of the 900 (and for some reason, the Amtrak document shows the distance from Chicago to Rondout for the Borealis as 33 miles, but only 29 for the Empire Builder and Hiawathas?). So, the delays between Chicago and Milwaukee are caused mostly by Metra, right? Metra is responsible, but CPKC dispatches 27 miles from Tower A5 to Rondout (with Metra dispatching from Chicago Union Station to A5). The actual delay breakdown between Metra and CPKC dispatchers is unknown, but suffice it to say whatever happens under the guidance of CPKC between Rondout and A5 is not on them.
The reverse situation exists near St. Paul where BNSF dispatchers handle the 20 miles of joint ex-CB&Q and ex-MILW track between St. Croix Tower and near St. Paul Union Depot. Regardless of what happens, this is on CPKC. But with the greater frequencies of the Hiawatha service and longer distance, CPKC reaps the greater benefit in non-accountability for the A5-Rondout segment.
Beyond that, comparing CPKC’s miniscule route miles handling Amtrak with railroads like BNSF and UP, it’s an apples and oranges thing. According to this (admittedly dated) article from TRAINS:
https://www.trains.com/pro/freight/class-i/cp-and-kcs-project-dramatic-rise-in-daily-train-counts/
even CPKC projected that the only part of an Amtrak route which would have been significantly busy with the merger would have been on the River subdivision, basically St. Paul to La Crescent, MN at 18 trains. This is far fewer than is experienced along the routes of other Amtrak trains, especially in the western U.S. In the east, the Schenectady-to-Rouses Point route sees only about 3-4 trains daily. Additionally, CPKC routes hosting Amtrak have generally moderate grades – nothing like Stevens Pass, Donner Pass, Cajon Pass, or Beaumont Hill. Or Sand Patch or Horseshoe Curve, for that matter. As any train dispatcher will tell you, the best part of a flat railroad is a greater number of your trains operating at track speed, and making planning much easier.
To quote the TRAINS article: “’It takes a strong and focused team to deliver consistently high performance, and CPKC has shown its dedication to that task, having now won the Top Performing Amtrak Host Railroad award for 9 years in a row, every year since the award’s inception,’ Amtrak President Roger Harris said.” Maybe. But more likely, all it takes is few route miles with passenger trains, level track, relatively light freight traffic, and not being responsible for your dispatching on one of the busier parts of the route.
It’s hard to know specifically why Amtrak continues this apples/oranges sham award. It’s probably to “shame” the other railroads (I’m sure they’re over it already). Or, it could be about their (supposed) “Passenger trains should have absolute priority” claim, which would seem to be a what-happens-when-the-dog-catches-the-car scenario, in that EVEN IF all freight train interference was eliminated, it would even more so focus the spotlight on the voluminous amount of Amtrak equipment failures and cancelations.
Not being responsible is just that, CPKC is not responsible for delays on sections they don’t control. Penalizing them for the actions of others is like the dopey school teacher that penalizes the whole class because some students don’t do their homework.
Congratulations, CPKC! Keep up the good work, folks!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
A glamorous train meeting photo from David Lassen…
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
There is something wrong with TRAINS web site. Last week I had to delete “cache” to get onto the site at all. Today I had to delete “cache” to log on so as to comment. Deleting “cache” is a pain in the bum as far as signing on to other web sites, as the passwords are no longer saved. I have to re-enter all my passwords now.
Good that CPKC continues to be Amtrak’s star performer.
As for the last sentence above, I don’t think the number is 10, I think it’s 11 or 12.
Oh, sorry ’bout that. I counted one train twice, the Borealis as if a Hiawatha. Which it is. Ten is correct.
Happened to me last week. I went several days just thinking their server was down or something, given the recent instability of the “new and improved” revisions, until I did some third-party searches and found the cache suggestion. Hopefully it was a one-off but if it starts happening regularly…