WASHINGTON — Railroad Workers United, which describes itself as “an inter-union, cross-craft solidarity caucus of railroad workers and their supporters,” has expressed its support for Amtrak’s efforts to launch service on the Gulf Coast — while taking more than a few shots at CSX and other Class I railroads.
In a statement filed with the Surface Transportation Board earlier this week, the organization says it is “essential” that the STB “assist in this effort to restore passenger service to the Gulf Coast. After 16 years of study, it is time to initiate the service.”
RWU says its members have seen “a serious decline in customer service, eroding safety conditions, a lack of maintenance, and poor on-time performance of both passenger and freight trains” from Class I railroads, blaming the Precision Scheduled Railroading model of “running extremely long trains on infrastructure that was not designed to handle them.
“The operating model now in use across the continent does not facilitate scheduled movements,” the statement continues. “If the Class I railroads were in fact keeping their trains to schedule, then running a few 500-foot passenger trains each day would consume practically no track capacity at all and cause no disruption and limited need for infrastructure.”
Referencing a 2016 study in which CSX estimated $2.3 billion in infrastructure work would be needed to accommodate passenger service between New Orleans and Jacksonville, the statement says, “It is a sad day when a highly profitable railroad that only runs 11 trains a day on a mainline” can make a such a request, adding, “This $2.3 billion figure is more than spent on capital improvements to its entire network of 21,000 miles in 2017!”
“We must ensure that Amtrak has a meaningful right of access to host railroad infrastructure,” the statement concludes. “Otherwise the grand plan to develop passenger train service in the United States will be unlikely to succeed.”
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