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Grata's Guide: Amtrak fails to stay on schedule
Sunday, October 24, 1999 By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Who consistently provides the worst on-time service among scheduled transportation carriers in Pittsburgh?
(a) Port Authority buses
(b) Light-snail trolleys
(c) US Airways
(d) Amtrak trains
Most of you have had your share of problems with a, b and c. But ever since the Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads took over Conrail in June, Amtrak has jumped into a clear lead, unfortunately for rail passengers. And unfortunately for people fighting like heck to preserve a national train system that has been forced to survive on a bread-and-water financial diet.
"Until recently, Amtrak has been an inexpensive, stress-free alternative to flying for a lot of us," said Terry Moore of Pittsburgh, who rides Amtrak six to eight times a year. "I used the trains often and was always pleased. They were almost always on time. Any delays were usually under 30 minutes. That has changed dramatically."
He tracked the Three Rivers trains providing daily service to Youngstown, Ohio, and Chicago to the west, and to Harrisburg, Philadelphia and New York City to the east.
From Oct. 4 through 8, three eastbound and four westbound trains were a total of 33 hours and 7 minutes late -- almost 5 hours late each, on average. The best arrived one hour and 50 minutes late; the worst, 9 hours and 47 minutes late. Weather was not a factor on any of those dates.
"You can see what problems this would cause if a passenger had someone waiting at the station to pick him up," Moore said. "If someone was counting on arriving in New York [on schedule] at 7:25 p.m. with the idea of keeping an appointment the next morning, arriving at 5:12 a.m. would obviously cause tremendous inconvenience."
You bet! For about 18,000 passengers a month just in Pittsburgh.
I checked Monday with the Pittsburgh Amtrak station, where passengers have besieged agents who have no control over the situation and are as anxious as anyone to see the trains run on time.
The Capitol Limited departed for Washington more than one hour behind schedule. The Three Rivers coming from Chicago arrived more than three hours late. And the Pennsylvanian was leaving Chicago already more than two hours behind schedule, with 471 miles of track to cover to reach Pittsburgh.
Bob Abraham of Monroeville, vice president of the Keystone Association of Railroad Passengers, an Amtrak advocacy group, passed along a horror story published in the Philadelphia Inquirer about a Delaware County passenger who got to Paoli Station from Pittsburgh at 7 o'clock in the morning instead of 11:30 the previous night.
His Amtrak train got blocked behind a Norfolk Southern freight train that parked on the railroad mainline in Western Pennsylvania, because the crew had worked the maximum hours allowed by federal law. When the train finally reached Harrisburg, "They told us to get off, that the train had to return to Pittsburgh," Richard Stokes told the newspaper. "All passengers were dumped on the platform to wait for another train. Nothing was open. We couldn't even get a coffee. We weren't told when the next train was coming."
The problem stems from Amtrak having to operate through Pittsburgh and many other parts of the United States on tracks owned and controlled by freight railroads. In this case, Conrail's breakup has become a nightmare, affecting railroad business customers as much as Amtrak passengers.
"We've been warning people about what would happen," Abraham said. "The merger has made an unbelievable mess of the railroad. Amtrak is a victim. Every time Amtrak takes a step forward, something like this happens and sets it back two steps."
Moore believes Amtrak either has to fix the problem that didn't exist six months ago or publish schedules that reflect accurate -- albeit much slower -- travel times, based on actual performance.
"Considering that the federal government subsidizes Amtrak, this kind of consumer abuse is inexcusable," Moore said.
Stan Begley, president of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor operators, told KARP, "It will be some time" before performance improves.
About 225,000 passengers a year get on and off Amtrak trains in Pittsburgh; 70,000, in Altoona; 44,000, in Johnstown; 24,000, in Greensburg; 12,000, in Latrobe; and 10,000, in Connellsville.
"My brother-in-law has a business 10 miles west of that mess, and he says at least 10 lost people a day stop to ask where the I-79 North entrance is," she said. "It doesn't say much for Pennsylvania hospitality when you send out-of-towners on a 20-mile wild goose chase."
Send your transportation questions, complaints and suggestions to Joe Grata c/o The Post-Gazette, or e-mail him at jgrata@post-gazette.com. Please include your address and phone number
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