Railway Age, 6/3/21
Is Amtrak’s 2035 Map Riding on the Surf Board? (UPDATED)
Written by David Peter Alan, Contributing Editor
Amtrak is looking to expand its network of passenger trains, for the first time in two decades. The proposal by “America's Railroad” to add dozens of new corridors and state-supported trains to its network has drawn both support and criticism from advocates: support because it marks a new attitude on Amtrak's part favoring expansion (of some sort, at least); criticism because it does not go far enough toward pushing for more long-distance trains or recognizing the contributions of the citizen-advocates who have been calling for more trains throughout almost all of Amtrak's 50-year history.
Whether or not Amtrak’s expansion plans end up going very far is the ultimate issue now before the Surface Transportation Board (STB), in a case concerning Amtrak’s proposed restoration of Gulf Coast service, which would consist of two trains in each direction between New Orleans and Mobile. Amtrak filed a petition before the Board on March 16 (Docket No. FD-36496), under statutory authority of 49 U.S.C. §24308(e), which allows Amtrak to ask for STB intervention to establish a new route or a new train if the potential host railroad does not provide for such operation. As Railway Age reported, Amtrak argued that CSX and NS refused to do their part to get the new service going.
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As I see it, CSX and NS are fighting this case so hard because they do not want Amtrak to come back with a proposal that could affect freight operations elsewhere more significantly than the Mobile proposal. That is how precedents work, and CSX and NS do not desire the possibility of Amtrak convincing the STB to establish this sort of precedent. From a legal standpoint, they are making the same sort of arguments I would make if I represented them. That does not necessarily mean that an administrative adjudicator would agree with those arguments.
The parties acknowledge that this is a case of first impression for the STB, which normally adjudicates cases about freight rates and allows railroads to abandon lightly used lines (although, at the present time, its members are busy with a Class I merger). The issues in the present case are different, but they could come up often in the foreseeable future. Amtrak plans to establish many state-supported routes between now and 2035, and the freight railroads may be expected to oppose most or all of them, unless extra capacity (i.e. infrastructure) is added at public expense to accommodate new trains. They say such expense is necessary, a contention often disputed.
David Peter Alan is one of America’s most experienced transit users and advocates, having ridden every rail transit line in the U.S., and most Canadian systems. He has also ridden the entire Amtrak network and most of the routes on VIA Rail. His advocacy on the national scene focuses on the Rail Users’ Network (RUN), where he has been a Board member since 2005. Locally in New Jersey, he served as Chair of the Lackawanna Coalition for 21 years, and remains a member. He is also a member of NJ Transit’s Senior Citizens and Disabled Residents Transportation Advisory Committee (SCDRTAC). When not writing or traveling, he practices law in the fields of Intellectual Property (Patents, Trademarks and Copyright) and business law. The opinions expressed here are his own.
More here.
Cross-posted in Amtrak service from New Orleans to Orlando: Return possible and 'Amtrak Connects US' Expanded Network - American Jobs Plan
