We never want to delay or cancel a train, but sometimes the weather forecasts and other factors make it the right thing to do.
It’s true, Amtrak is often able to provide reliable service when other transportation modes are disrupted. That’s why getting out in front of ice and snow and operational threats is so important now and as we grow. People depend on us. Amtrak is at its best when we anticipate our customers’ needs—and they have made it clear that they want as much notice as possible about delays and cancellations. We’ve received thanks from many who are grateful for the earlier notifications.
It’s also true that during these weather events, we must strike a delicate balance of serving the few customers who must travel against potentially disrupting service for many more after the ice, snow and frigid temperatures are gone. Extreme conditions can take a significant toll on equipment, displace crews and interrupt service for days.
There are so many factors that play a role in whether to allow trains on a given route:
- We want to give customers time to plan and avoid travel on snow-covered roads and prevent them from waiting long, uninformed hours in our stations. Rail operations are often severely impacted, highly variable and notoriously hard to estimate when storms are raging.
- We want to give our employees time to plan and avoid the same risks. This helps ensure equipment and crews are in the right place at the right time when demand returns.
- Our teams consider the risks of stranded trains, or loss of power that puts the well-being of our employees, customers and first responders at risk, if our trains encounter downed trees or other hazards—especially in remote areas.
- Amtrak must respect decisions made by our host railroads and other partners. They evaluate their own risks, staffing availability and determine what they can support. We adjust.
I want to commend our planning team for their hard work analyzing all the data, and especially for rooting decisions in safety first when making the call on whether to run our trains across the network.
We are all proud to be a part of America’s Railroad—a cornerstone of our nation’s transportation system. As we expand to serve the next generation of rail travelers, we also seek to continuously improve the safety of our operations and respond to the voice of our customers. It is never easy to make the call to cancel a route. It is also never simply a question of can we operate, but rather should we.
Gerhard “Gery” Williams has been Executive Vice President, Service Delivery & Operations (SD&O) since July 2022. SD&O consists of the Transportation, Mechanical, Infrastructure Maintenance & Construction Services (IMCS), Customer Service Stations, Onboard Services and Food & Beverage, California Operations, Operations Integration and Network Support functions. Prior to joining Amtrak in June 2017 as Vice President and Chief Engineer, he had spent almost three decades at CSX Transportation, holding senior leadership roles including Vice President, Mechanical Operations; Chief Mechanical Officer – Locomotives; AVP Network Operations – Locomotive Management; and Division Manager.
Editor’s Note: Amtrak told Railway Age that it has been seeking additional federal funding for fleet replacement for many years, explaining that on Amtrak.com are 10 years of Annual Legislative and Grant Requests to Congress, along with Fleet and Equipment Asset Line Plans making this case in a variety of federal political and policy circumstances and in a variety of ways. Business plans and RRIF funding have enabled the Viewliner II, Next-Gen Acela, Amtrak Airo and diesel locomotive procurements, Amtrak noted. It was not until the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (a.k.a. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) in late 2021 that funding to replace the Superliner railcars—intensely used every day in every U.S. time zone for approaching 50 years—was finally approved. “To suggest inattention to fleet issues by Amtrak Board and Management is to ignore the record,” Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said. “And, as Railway Age published in a commentary by Amtrak Board Chairman Anthony ‘Tony’ Coscia, to assert the Empire Builder and other overnight services are not of foundational importance to us is to disregard that record.”
