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5/31/2022
Amtrak has asked the Surface Transportation Board to establish the terms and conditions of a new operating agreement in which Amtrak trains will have access to CN rail lines and property.
The agreement would establish terms under which Amtrak will pay incentives to CN or the Class I will incur penalties based on the performance of Amtrak trains on its track, according to a May 27 filing with the STB.
In August 2019, the STB directed Amtrak and CN to partake in board-sponsored mediation in reaching an agreement, but that effort was unsuccessful. Since that decision, however, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a final rule that established a "customer on-time performance" metric that assesses the performance of Amtrak trains based on the percentage of Amtrak passengers that arrive on time at their destination stations.
The FRA also established other metrics to measure the extent to which host freight railroads have delayed Amtrak's trains.
Amtrak's proposed agreement now incorporates those new rules and calls for CN to receive less in incentives as its own host-responsible delays for an Amtrak route increase. This proposal would ensure that the Class I has an incentive to minimize delays that affect Amtrak trains.
To read Amtrak's full filing, click here.