The debut in late August 2025 of Amtrak’s long-awaited NextGen Acela trainsets for the Northeast Corridor captured media and rail industry attention at a time when Amtrak’s much larger—geographically speaking—Long-Distance (LD) network is suffering mechanical, personnel, and performance setbacks on an almost daily basis. Locomotives malfunctioning en route or before they even leave the station. Reduced speeds due to weather conditions or freight train congestion. Departures delayed on account of no rested crews. Coaches and sleeping cars having inoperable climate control or toilets. Dining cars unable to serve meals. Late trains getting later or being annulled altogether.
When Railway Age last examined service setbacks affecting Amtrak’s Empire Builder, bitter winter cold and Amtrak’s new ALC-42 locomotives were among the key causes of delays or cancellations. Trains arriving many hours behind schedule at their final destinations of Chicago, Seattle, or Portland resulted in the next departures from those cities being late, as well. In extreme cases, Amtrak chose to halt the Empire Builder at intermediate points like Spokane, Wash., and place passengers on buses for the remainder of their trip, allowing the train to be reversed, serviced, and ready to receive its next passengers (arriving by bus) in an effort to get back on schedule.
Throughout all of 2024 and most of 2025, the same circumstances have frequently plagued other trains in the LD fleet, as well. Not all of the time. Many days go by where Amtrak’s LD trains perform reasonably on time. But all too often there are delays, some setting trains back 10 or more hours off their schedule. If the summer of 2025 proved anything, it’s that Amtrak’s ALC-42s and older P-42DCs are vulnerable to breakdowns any time of year, not just in winter.
Interference From Freight Traffic, Weather
Not all delays to Amtrak trains over the past year have been directly attributed to weather or equipment malfunctions. Long-Distance trains like the Empire Builder travel thousands of miles over routes owned and operated by freight railroads, often referred to as “host” railroads by Amtrak. For the Empire Builder, that means having passenger trains that are authorized for speeds up to 79 mph in some places on a route—mostly BNSF—that also carries a high volume of manifest/mixed freights, intermodals handling domestic and international containers, and unit trains carrying grain, oil, ethanol, or other bulk commodities, all of which are limited to 60 mph or possibly 55 mph depending on their tons per operative brake (TOB). West of Sandpoint, Idaho, the Empire Builder route is joined by additional traffic—much of it grain and coal—coming off the former Montana Rail Link. From Spokane westward, loaded unit trains share the same route as the Empire Builder section that splits off toward Portland, but not the section that heads toward Seattle.
In most cases, BNSF dispatching, whether it involves live input from actual dispatchers in Fort Worth or automation via Wabtec’s Movement Planner system, does an adequate job of keeping heavy, slower trains out of the way of the Empire Builder, assuming the Builder is running on time, within its scheduled “slot.”
Extreme winter cold across BNSF’s Northern Corridor typically slows train brake air flow on longer trains and can trigger speed restrictions due to the potential for broken rails or pull-aparts. Summer heat can also trigger speed restrictions because of the potential for warped, kinked rails. In certain areas, when temperatures exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the Empire Builder is restricted to 70 or even 60 mph, while freights are restricted to speeds between 55 and 40 mph depending on their TOB and temperature severity. Summer 2025 saw an abundance of days with heat-induced speed restrictions across the Amtrak network.
Freight trains experience their share of mechanical breakdowns or mishaps that can interfere with Amtrak’s on-time performance. One example was the September 6, 2025, derailment of several cars in a BNSF train on the west slope of Marias Pass east of Essex, Mont. Amtrak’s westbound Empire Builder, Train 7, was held at Shelby, Mont., and ultimately fell 11 hours behind schedule by the time BNSF cleared a way for it past the derailment site.
Amtrak and freights suffered equally during early August 2025 when high winds, downed trees, and heavy flooding impacted rail lines in the Upper Midwest. That same month, a CPKC derailment in Wisconsin forced the westbound Empire Builder to detour onto an alternate route to reach BNSF’s Northern Corridor, falling nine hours behind schedule in the process.
Amtrak rates the handling of its trains by freight railroads using two reporting methods. One is Amtrak’s “Host Railroad Report Card.” As Amtrak Senior Public Relations Manager Marc Magliari explains, “Host Railroad grades are evaluated by ‘host responsible delay minutes’, which is the method for grading (A-F).” U.S. Class I carriers and CN earned grades between B+ and B- during 2024. CPKC was the only major carrier to earn an A. However, CN and CPKC represent a very small percentage of Amtrak’s route mileage, especially in comparison to BNSF or Union Pacific (UP).
The other method Amtrak uses to gauge its treatment on freight railroads is a percentage-based On-Time Performance (OTP) standard. As Amtrak states in its online OTP reporting, “The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) ‘Metrics and Standards’ rule sets the OTP standard: 80% of customers must arrive on time. Miss the standard, and the Surface Transportation Board (STB) can investigate the causes, and if Amtrak’s right to preference was violated, the freight railroad may face penalties.”
Magliari offered a more precise definition for Railway Age. “OTP percentage is calculated based upon how many passengers arrive at their detraining station no later than 15 minutes beyond their scheduled arrival time.” In 2024, all 14 of Amtrak’s Long-Distance trains failed to achieve 80% OTP. The Empire Builder ranked 55% OTP, while the Southwest Chief (Chicago-Los Angeles) had the lowest OTP of all, 33%.
Amtrak Equipment, Operations Partly to Blame
Upon closer scrutiny, not all of those OTP percentages were caused by host railroads. Amtrak’s Magliari says, “The 55% OTP for the Empire Builder would include ALL delays: host, Amtrak, and third party.” According to figures posted by the FRA for FY 2025 Q2, of the 1,967 delay minutes per 10,000 train miles in Amtrak LD service overall, 1,043 delay minutes were caused by host railroads, 424 were caused by third party circumstances (weather, debris on track, trespassers, etc.), and 500 were caused by Amtrak’s own equipment, personnel, system, or servicing problems. In other words, Amtrak was responsible for roughly half as many delays to its Long-Distance trains as freight/host railroads were.
During that same quarter (FY 2025 Q2), records show the Empire Builder alone experienced 210 separate delay factors (meaning: multiple delay factors on some trains), 89 of which were Amtrak’s responsibility. Among those, there were 10 instances of locomotive mechanical failure, 10 instances of switching or servicing delay, seven instances of car malfunction, four cases of initial terminal delay, and 14 cases of crew unavailability or shortage. All of that in a single 90-day period for just one Amtrak service route.
Often lost in the discussion of Amtrak delays or service disruptions is the impact on freight railroads. During February 2025, in single-digit temperatures, a locomotive failure brought westbound Empire Builder Train 7 to a halt in North Dakota. A BNSF freight locomotive was eventually added, and Train 7 was five hours late into Montana. It continued to lose time, including a four-hour delay east of Whitefish, Mont., waiting for a relief crew, ultimately reaching Seattle more than 20 hours behind schedule. Likewise for Train 27, the Empire Builder section that splits off at Spokane to Portland.
Similar events play out across BNSF and other freight railroads with surprising regularity. Magliari says, “We sometimes use host railroad units, just as we sometimes provide transportation to their freight crews. Those arrangements are in accordance with our operating agreements with those carriers, which are proprietary.” When freight traffic comes to a standstill due to clogged terminals, crew shortages, or other conditions, and shuttle drivers are unavailable or roads are impassable, it’s indeed common to see Amtrak trains—whether running late or on-time—picking up and dropping off crews for freight trains along the way.
Time lost for a freight crew that has to hand off a freight locomotive to Amtrak, and the ripple effect on freight trains stopped for miles behind and ahead of a disabled passenger train, are bad enough. But an hours-late Amtrak continuing across hundreds or thousands of miles of freight railway, where departures and crew starts had been scheduled well in advance, can cause widespread havoc. Having a freight locomotive on the point also reduces an Amtrak train’s maximum speed to 70 mph on some route segments, 60 mph or less on others.
Locomotive failures have been a common factor in Amtrak Long-Distance delays or cancellations. The majority of Amtrak’s LD diesel fleet is currently comprised of roughly 150 “Genesis” P42DCs, manufactured by General Electric during 1996-2001. These machines have been crisscrossing America for a quarter century or more. The first 75 of Amtrak’s newest LD locomotives, ALC-42 “Chargers” built by Siemens Mobility, began arriving in 2021 and debuted in LD service on the Empire Builder in February 2022. Another 50 are on order.
During their first year or two of operation, the ALC-42s encountered technical and mechanical problems, especially during winter conditions. One issue centered around PTC connectivity, while the other was said to involve outside moisture making its way into the dynamic brake system, causing a ground fault that brought trains to a standstill and could potentially cut power to passenger car heating. On-scene repairs, rearranging the Amtrak locomotives, or adding a freight locomotive to the front got idled trains moving again.
Siemens Mobility, said in early 2023, that a “hardware improvement” was being developed for the ALC-42s. In September 2025, Magliari tells Railway Age, “Hardware and software modifications were applied to the entire ALC-42 fleet, and we have had two winters of successful operation.”
Siemens Mobility declined multiple requests for comment from both Railway Age and from Amtrak for this story.
In late September 2025, an FRA spokesperson tells Railway Age that the PTC issue with the ALC-42s “has been resolved.” The FRA also says, “The snow ingestion of the dynamic brake system was indeed a problem. The light-dry snow of the mid-west was not anticipated by Siemens. Siemens has redesigned the air filtering for the dynamic brakes, and it appears to have resolved the snow ingestion issue that caused the electrical short circuits of the energy dissipating grids.”
Over the past two years, a new issue with various models of the Charger fleet has been discovered. Their Cummins QSK95 diesel prime movers have reportedly developed signs of internal wear. At least four SC-44s, released by Siemens Mobility in 2017 and assigned to the Pacific Surfliner in southern California, were pulled from service due to engine breakdowns during 2023-24. And in early September 2025, Amtrak and Caltrans announced that four trains in northern California’s Capitol Corridor service, powered mainly by SC-44s, would be suspended for approximately a month “due to locomotive repair work.”
ALC-42s in LD service have begun facing prime mover issues, as well. The FRA says, “Amtrak has had a series of diesel motor failures of the Cummins motors and have been working with Siemens/Cummins to resolve them. There were, for example, cases where the injector nozzle fractured and was ejected from the motor into the engine room. Amtrak has aggressively worked with Siemens to resolve all the failures and implement field modifications to prevent a repeat of the failures.”
The Chargers are based on what the FRA describes as a European locomotive design but with a diesel motor built in the U.S. The FRA says, “The distances traveled in Europe are not as far as the Amtrak Long-Distance service, and the locomotives see far more mileage in the U.S. as they do in Europe.”
As for any federal oversight of Amtrak rolling stock, the FRA says it “continues to conduct periodic inspections of all Amtrak’s Long-Distance locomotives, regardless of the model, as well as the passenger cars. Amtrak has a policy of using a minimum of two locomotives on their Long-Distance trains to minimize the potential for loss of HEP [Head End Power to passenger cars] during the trip.” The FRA goes on to say that it holds Amtrak to the requirements set under Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, parts 229 and 238. “They are held to the same regulatory standards as commuter or freight railroads.” While the FRA says it “does not have a regulatory ability to write civil penalties against suppliers,” it does hold the railroad “accountable for any noncompliant conditions.”
Siemens Mobility has provided technicians to occasionally monitor and correct Chargers in the field, but the general servicing and repair of these locomotives is Amtrak’s responsibility. When asked if Amtrak maintenance personnel received adequate training from Siemens, Magliari said, “Yes, and continuous improvements are under way as we gain operating experience with these units.”
Funding Needed to Improve the Fleet
Most passenger cars in Amtrak’s Long-Distance fleet predate even the quarter-century old P42DC locomotives. The 284 bilevel Superliner I cars that began entering service in the late 1970s and 195 Superliner II’s built during the early 1990s have become prone to all manner of mechanical deficiencies, and some have been lost to wreck damage or otherwise removed from service. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 was said to include $22 billion for Amtrak, nearly $583 million of which was intended for “Long-Distance re-fleeting investments (including facilities).” An additional $7 billion is proposed through Amtrak’s IIJA supplemental funding request for replacements to the LD passenger car fleet. Manufacturing of new LD cars is expected to be announced in 2026.
In its General and Legislative Annual Report and Fiscal Year 2026 Grant Request, Amtrak says, “While IIJA provides enough supplemental funding to replace a significant portion of our existing fleet, it does not provide sufficient resources for all replacements needed to maintain current service, nor does it include sufficient resources to procure additional fleet (and supporting facilities) needed for growth.”
The Empire Builder is a case study for insufficient resources. Decades ago, Amtrak had standby locomotives positioned at key intermediate points such as Spokane, Wash. It also had enough cars available to ensure timely departures from originating points no matter how late the previous inbound train arrived there. At Chicago, following Train 8’s scheduled arrival, there’s a nearly 22-hour turnaround time to get it serviced and ready to depart as the next Train 7. But at Seattle and Portland, the turnaround time is only about five hours. Westbound Empire Builders reaching those final destinations more than a few hours late will cause the next eastbound departures to be late, as well. Magliari tells Railway Age, “All carriers must weigh the need for ‘standby equipment’ to maintain service levels. However, at Amtrak, we do not have enough fleet to meet customer needs on many routes on a regular basis, aside from delayed arrivals or holiday peaks. We have been outspoken for several years about the need for fleet funding to replace our long-distance rolling stock.”
Track Improvements for the Empire Builder
A little-known achievement in Amtrak’s efforts to improve Empire Builder service is the Malta, Montana, Corridor Operational Enhancement Project. When operating on time, Train 8 is scheduled to stop at Malta just 22 minutes after Train 7, so the two trains frequently meet there. Doing so requires one of the trains to make a reverse movement into or out of the siding (the west switch is just 400 feet from the depot) so it can clear the main track and allow the other train to make its stop. Even if an Amtrak train were to let passengers on and off at Malta from the siding—using the concrete walkway across the main track—it would not alleviate time lost while traversing the 1.6-mile siding at 35 mph.
Thanks to a $14.9 million federal/state partnership grant—with Amtrak and BNSF contributing 20% matching funds—a crossover between the siding and main line will be added just east of the Malta depot to facilitate quicker meets and passenger stops for Empire Builders traveling both directions. The grant will also improve meeting conditions 12 miles east of Malta at Bowdoin, where the existing 8,105-foot siding will be extended to 16,000 feet, allowing BNSF trains of modern length to fully clear the main line for Amtrak trains to pass.
Regarding the Malta crossover and Bowdoin siding extension, BNSF V.P. Corporate Relations Zak Andersen says, “The in-service date will be in 2026, and dependent on how much grading work can be accomplished yet in 2025. The short construction season in Montana will quickly draw to a close for this year. If we have to wait until spring 2026 to start, we are shooting for end-of-year 2026 to be in service.”
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