The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday filed a civil complaint alleging that Norfolk Southern Corp. is violating federal law by delaying passenger trains on Amtrak’s Crescent Route, a 1,377-mile line that stops at 33 towns and cities between New York City and New Orleans.
“For half a century, federal law has required freight rail companies to give Amtrak passenger rail service preference on their tracks — yet compliance with this important law has been uneven at best,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
According to the DOJ’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, federal law requires Norfolk Southern to give Amtrak passenger trains preference over freight trains. Norfolk Southern controls 1,140 miles of rail line on the Crescent Route and handles dispatching for all trains along that segment, including freight trains it operates.
However, Norfolk Southern regularly fails to provide the required preference, leading to widespread delays that harm and inconvenience train passengers, negatively impact Amtrak’s financial performance, and impede passenger rail transportation, the complaint says.
For instance, of the roughly 266,000 passengers who traveled on the Crescent Route during 2023, just 24 percent of southbound passenger trains traveling on Norfolk Southern-controlled track arrived at their destination on time, says the DOJ.
“Americans should not experience travel delays because rail carriers break the law. Our action today alleges that Norfolk Southern violates federal law by failing to give the legally required preference to Amtrak passenger trains over freight trains,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said on July 30. “The Justice Department will continue to protect travelers by ensuring that rail carriers fulfill their legal obligations.”
The complaint includes other examples of how Norfolk Southern’s failure to give passenger trains the required preference causes many of these delays.
For instance, an Amtrak train 10 miles outside of New Orleans on Jan. 1 was delayed for nearly an hour when Norfolk Southern dispatchers required it to travel behind a slow-moving freight train, the complaint says, while on another occasion, Norfolk Southern dispatchers forced an Amtrak train to wait over an hour while allowing three separate freight trains to pass.
Jim Mathews, president and CEO of the Rail Passengers Association, said in a statement released Tuesday that dispatching Amtrak trains so that they are regularly late more than 80 percent of the time cannot be explained by bad weather, or supply chain disruptions, or any other operational vagaries.
“This is especially true now that the trains’ schedules have been certified by both the host railroad and by Amtrak,” Mathews said. “We encourage the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to move forward with all due haste.”
He also pointed out that while Amtrak, by law, has the right to preferential dispatching for its trains, the company is entirely dependent on the DOJ for enforcement action of this right, which has only happened once before, back in 1979.
“That means tens of millions of American passengers have been waiting for decades for relief from these host railroad-caused delays,” said Mathews. “With that history in mind, Rail Passengers is extremely appreciative of the leadership shown by the Biden administration, the DOJ, and the U.S. Department of Transportation for taking action to protect the legal rights of passengers to quality, on-time service.”
According to Amtrak’s Host Railroad Report from June, Norfolk Southern-owned freight trains were directly responsible for over 1,500 minutes of delays for every 10,000 train miles.
Overall, on-time performance for the Crescent in 2023 was at 57 percent, which is below the 80 percent threshold set by the Surface Transportation Board.
“We will continue to engage the railroad industry and work with Amtrak to ensure that freight railroads comply with their legal obligations and that Amtrak customers are not subjected to unacceptable, unnecessary, and unlawful delays,” Secretary Buttigieg said.