Amtrak asks fed regulators to investigate Union Pacific handling of Sunset Ltd
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Re: Amtrak asks fed regulators to investigate Union Pacific handling of Sunset Ltd
#2Why doesn't Amtrak simply pay UP adequately to get priority? UP is prioritizing freight because it pays better. Fix that.
Re: Amtrak asks fed regulators to investigate Union Pacific handling of Sunset Ltd
#3Why doesn't Amtrak simply pay UP adequately to get priority? UP is prioritizing freight because it pays better. Fix that.
Alternatively, nationalize the rail lines and make UP pay for access. Privatization of critical infrastructure, historically, leads to poor outcomes with profits getting siphoned off in the process.
Rail workers aren’t getting sick days and trains are longer (leading to delays) because of investors squeezing rail infra and those who operate it. Why allow it to continue? The whole “privatizing profits socializing losses and externalities” is getting old, no?
Re: Amtrak asks fed regulators to investigate Union Pacific handling of Sunset Ltd
#4Why doesn't Amtrak simply pay UP adequately to get priority? UP is prioritizing freight because it pays better. Fix that.
This is fixing that. Prioritizing freight now pays less because of the fines that can be levied.
Re: Amtrak asks fed regulators to investigate Union Pacific handling of Sunset Ltd
#5Why doesn't Amtrak simply pay UP adequately to get priority? UP is prioritizing freight because it pays better. Fix that.
UP already has legal obligations to this effect, the violation of which has been ignored by the government up until this point.
Re: Amtrak asks fed regulators to investigate Union Pacific handling of Sunset Ltd
#6Why doesn't Amtrak simply pay UP adequately to get priority? UP is prioritizing freight because it pays better. Fix that.
Here's a brief history of railroads in the US:
1) The federal government gave railroads massive amounts of land completely free of charge.
2) The federal government applied some regulations, including around transporting passengers. The automobile and plane hadn't been invented yet, so it wasn't that oppressive to railroads. Passengers were making them money.
3) The world changed and passenger service became massively unprofitable. Amtrak was formed to keep the trains running without the private railroads having to bear the losses. All Amtrak asked for was a few hours a day of clearance to run their trains.
4) Fast forward to today, and the railroads aren't complying with their obligations, that were granted in exchange for immense value.
A handout and a bailout later, and you want the taxpayers to give the railroads even more money?
(These original benefactors still exist today. Union Pacific was around when this was all happening. The "N" in BNSF is one of the original benefactors as well. It's pretty amazing to see companies around 160 years after their formation. Pretty generous government grants throughout their history didn't hurt.)
Re: Amtrak asks fed regulators to investigate Union Pacific handling of Sunset Ltd
#7The history of the US's Western freight lines is fascinating (and frustrating): we've allowed these massive companies (UP, BNSF) to extract rent for well over a century, in exchange for having laid down the original lines (which, mind you, were also paid for in land and bonds[1]).
Re: Amtrak asks fed regulators to investigate Union Pacific handling of Sunset Ltd
#8I'm surprised PSR hasn't been mentioned in this. "Precision Scheduled Railroading" primarily means miles-long trains (with locomotives embedded rather than all at the lead end). They can take 10+ minutes to pass at a crossing, which is bad enough, but absent full double tracking, they also don't fit on the passing sidings, so while a passenger train could wait on one to let the freight train pass, the opposite is not possible.
Re: Amtrak asks fed regulators to investigate Union Pacific handling of Sunset Ltd
#9Why doesn't Amtrak simply pay UP adequately to get priority? UP is prioritizing freight because it pays better. Fix that.
Alternatively, nationalize the rail lines and make UP pay for access. Privatization of critical infrastructure, historically, leads to poor outcomes with profits getting siphoned off in the process. Rail workers aren’t getting sick days and trains are longer (leading to delays) because of investors squeezing rail infra and those who operate it. Why allow it to continue? The whole “privatizing profits socializing loss…
You don't even need to nationalize it. It makes perfect sense for the federal government, or even a large state like California, to simply buy it on the open market, as a hostile takeover. The UPRR is dirt cheap compared to how much it is costing society for the UPRR to exist. We're talking low tens of billions. If the Obama administration had funded a takeover of the UPRR ten years ago it would have slashed the future costs of the Calif. High Speed Rail project.
Re: Amtrak asks fed regulators to investigate Union Pacific handling of Sunset Ltd
#10I'm surprised PSR hasn't been mentioned in this. "Precision Scheduled Railroading" primarily means miles-long trains (with locomotives embedded rather than all at the lead end). They can take 10+ minutes to pass at a crossing, which is bad enough, but absent full double tracking, they also don't fit on the passing sidings, so while a passenger train could wait on one to let the freight train pass, the opposite is not…
It is mentioned!
> On the latter point, it asks the board to look at such matters as “how UP has reconciled its decision to implement Precision Scheduled Railroading with its obligations to host intercity passenger trains over the UP network.” It suggests that the board split its proceeding into two phases — an investigative phase to determine the cause of delays, and whether they are due to a failure to provide preference to Amtrak, and a remedial phase to determine possible damages and corrective action. It also offers a broad range of procedural suggestions regarding documents and interviews that should be part of the proceeding.