WASHINGTON – The national passenger train service Amtrak has begun a crackdown on freight railroads that block shared tracks and slow long-distance passenger trains. On-time arrivals have been pathetic. As an example, consider the Empirer= Builder through Winona one week late in May:
> Final destinations: On-time arrival 39% at Chicago, Portland and Seattle.
> All stations: 28 minutes late.
The Empire Builder operates on tracks owned by the Burlington Northern and the Canadian Pacific. Per a 1971 law, host railroads are supposed to give priority to passenger trains. Now Amtrak has asked the U.S. Justice Department to crack down. A suit has been filed against Norfolk Southern for a horrendous pattern of delays for its supposedly crack Crescent train between New York, Atlanta and New Orleans. To be sure, Amtrak has its own operational delays, but most trains lateare because freights are blocking rights-of-way.