Why does Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train run late?
I love the leisurely pace of rail travel. But not this much leisure: trains that run up to 13 hours behind schedule, as Amtrak’s Coast Starlight has been known to do. Why do these trains so often run late, and what’s the outlook?
As the Coast Starlight prepares to resume full service next week between Los Angeles and Seattle after more than three months of track troubles, I asked Amtrak and Union Pacific, which owns the tracks, about this. Here’s what they said:
How bad is it? The Coast Starlight ran on schedule 50% of the time in December and 51.7% of the time in November, according to Amtrak statistics. While not great, the numbers are better than in December 2006 (25.8%) and November 2006 (23.3%). Since January, of course, trains have run irregularly because of mudslides, since cleared, that covered tracks in Oregon.
Construction issues: Years of track work by Union Pacific in Oregon and Northern California have contributed to delays on the Coast Starlight, said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham. By late last year, a major portion of that work was finished, helping on-time performance, she explained.
Bottlenecks: Although the Coast Starlight gets priority, it runs on the same tracks as freight trains, said Graham and Zoe Richmond, spokeswoman for Union Pacific. And much of its route is on a single track. So if any train stalls, especially if it’s not near a siding, it backs up traffic. It’s like being on a one-lane road without a shoulder. And of course, bad weather can also wreak havoc.
Breakdowns and accidents: Any incident on the rails, including non-fatal accidents involving vehicles, can trigger safety checks of train sets and tracks. “It can be an hour,” Richmond said. “It can be six hours.” Both freight and passenger trains can lose power or break down for various reasons. Meanwhile, traffic grinds to a halt.
The outlook: Don’t expect big improvements in the Coast Starlight’s on-time record. The main problem is infrastructure, Richmond said. There’s not enough track to handle the traffic. “We’re really struggling with capacity,” she explained. Fixing that will take miles of new track and billions of dollars.
The big picture: Think the train’s late a lot? Well, so are planes. In 2007, flights by major U.S. airlines arrived on schedule 73.4% of the time, according to the U.S. government. In December, the figure was 64.3%, compared with the Coast Starlight’s 50%. Suddenly, being late half the time doesn’t look so bad.
— Jane Engle, Assistant Los Angeles Times Travel Editor
[Photo: Seattle skyline by Kevin P. Casey / Bloomberg News]
6 Comments on “Why does Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train run late?”
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May 2nd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
As long as passenger trains are held in thrall to the freight lines which, as you state, own the tracks improving public transportation via rail will languish. It is to be hoped that more rail passengers would raise their voices by contacting their representatives in Congress and telling them to make the freight lines behave more responsibly and to guarantee full funding (and more) to Amtrak. It is a sad commentary that American railroads are now the equivalent of a fourth world system when once it was the best in the world.
We have enjoyed many cross-country and north-south trips on all of Amtrak’s lines. They are great when not impeded by a freight line problem.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Hmmmmm,
50%. I have seen numbers published about some European railway systems and there about 90% of the trains arrived within 5 minutes of their scheduled arrival time. I have no clue about european airlines, but these numbers look again very low to me.
I really do not understand how a civilized, industrial and developed country can have a rail system that is even worse then probably some 3rd world countries. Lets hope that with increasing gas prices, public transportation in general improves.
(I was very disappointed that we are not getting a fast TGV like rail connection from San Diego to LA to San Francisco. I guess that there might be business travels that would actually save time going from one down town to the other and you could just go shopping for the day in San Francisco or they could come here to shop).
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I ride Amtrak regularly for business. The vast majority of delays are because of freight rail issues — stalled trains, or really lousy maintenance by the freight companies, etc. The freight companies don’t care one whit about passenger rail on their lines; in fact, you should read http://www.nytimes.com/ref/national/deathonthetracks_index.html for some of the more disturbing aspects of this.
May 3rd, 2008 at 12:09 am
I’ve had the worst experiences on the Coast Starlight. Interminable delays. Once it took 6 hours to get from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles.
Aloha
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:31 pm
If you want to follow some no-nonsense talk about Amtrak, read the updates at http://www.unitedrail.org
sasjeh - California has been debating HSR and maglev for years.
http://trains4america.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/california-already-gearing-up-for-hsr-battle/
March 14th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Passenger trains had priorty until the republicans changed this. Chaney(UP)and the Republicans changed this to give priorty to freight trains. I was also told by several VP’s with Amtrak that the UP management is very poor. The old Santa
The passenger trains had priority until the republicans ran congress.
Mr.Chaney probably the main reason the passenger trains have to pull over for freight trains. Chaney(UP) and Paulson(CSX)both wanted to get rid of Amtrak.
Our trains compared to {TVG)French & (ICE) Germany are a joke. Our R.R.’s and the airlines have lobbied congress to keep Amtrak to keep its service poor. I have taken the above trains over very long distances and have never been late. They also have dedicated track so they can keep a schedule. I also don’t remember of giving the right of way to a freight train. Amtrak can start by hiring some great european management people, give it some serious funding, and in about 30 years it could be equal to what the european system is now. The French run circles around the Japanese and their fares are a lot less money. Cars are not the answer to our transportation problems.