WASHINGTON — Amtrak and Union Pacific have reached a settlement in their dispute over performance of the Sunset Limited and have asked the Surface Transportation Board to end its investigation into the train’s handling.
An Amtrak filing on Thursday, July 31, asks that the STB case — the first of its kind regarding host-railroad handling of a passenger train — be terminated, and says that all parties to the investigation except Canadian Pacific Kansas City have consented to the move.
The filing offers few details on the settlement, saying only that that “Union Pacific has made commitments regarding the Sunset Limited’s customer on-time performance and has further agreed to consequences if it does not meet those commitments.” It also said UP personnel who deal with Amtrak will receive “continuous education and training … to understand their responsibilities to Amtrak under federal law,” and that the two sides have agreed on a process to certify a schedule for the train.
“Amtrak therefore believes that the parties have achieved an outcome … fully consistent with the purposes of an investigation” under the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, the filing says.
A joint statement from Amtrak and UP on Friday, Aug., 1, reflects much of the same wording as the STB filing: “Amtrak and Union Pacific are pleased with a settlement regarding customer on-time performance for Amtrak’s Sunset Limited Service. As a result, Amtrak requested the Surface Transportation Board (STB) close its investigation. Union Pacific is committed to improving customer on-time performance for the Sunset Limited, as well as continuous training and education for employees with responsibilities to Amtrak under federal law. Amtrak and Union Pacific express their gratitude to the STB for its time and attention to this matter.”
Amtrak asked the STB to investigate what it called the “abysmal” on-time performance of the Sunset in December 2022, saying many of the delays of a train that had quarterly on-time performance rates as low as 7% over the previous year were “attributable to UP corporate decisions, operational practices, or failures that result in systemic violations of Amtrak preference rights.” [See “Amtrak asks federal regulators to investigate …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 9, 2022.
It was the first such case ever brought under a provision of the PRIAA, requiring the STB to develop its approach to handling the case, which it did in a July 2023 decision [see “STB announces investigation …,” July 11, 2023]. That decision laid out a two-stage process, with the first determining if a host railroad had failed to provide Amtrak with operating preference, and the second dealing with damages and other potential actions.”
Two years later, that investigation was still in its first stage, as “the parties engaged in party-led discovery and multiple rounds of briefing addressing various questions posed by the board,” as the Amtrak filing notes.
In its request to dismiss, Amtrak thanks the board and its staff for their work on the case, and says it appreciates “the good faith efforts of all parties, including Union Pacific, to examine the underlying performance issues on the Sunset Limited and to work collaboratively on solutions to drive sustained improvements.”
While Amtrak’s initial filing focused on Union Pacific, the STB included all parties that served as host railroads for the Sunset, no matter how briefly. That led to the involvement of BNSF Railway, Canadian National, CPKC, LA’s Metrolink, and the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad.
CPKC, in a letter filed with the STB on Friday, Aug. 1, informed the board that its decision not to join other parties in agreeing to Amtrak’s request stemmed from the fact the details of the settlement between Amtrak and Union Pacific would not be disclosed. “(W)hile not opposing the proposed dismissal,” CPKC attorney David Meyer wrote, “CPKC wished to avoid any implication that its consent constituted assent tothe undisclosed terms of Amtrak’s confidential arrangements with Union Pacific.”
— Updated Aug. 1 at 6:05 p.m. CT with CPKC filing; updated Aug. 2 at 11:51 a.m. CT with Amtrak/UP statement.
