This Week at Amtrak 2006-09-22
Volume 3 Number 38
- Cooperation for a common goal is considered to be a good idea. The common goal of this exercise is for the freight railroads to run Amtrak trains in a timely manner. Chip Jones, the very good transportation reporter for the Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch wrote last week that CSX is working with Amtrak to improve on time performance.The crux of the matter is this: CSX has a contractual obligation, agreed upon when Amtrak began operating in 1971, to operate all passenger trains on a priority basis, with clearances over freight trains. This is the deal the freight railroads made with the devil to be relieved of regulatory requirements to run their own passenger trains and turn over all operations to Amtrak.