WASHINGTON — The Justice Department and Norfolk Southern today reached a settlement in the right of preference lawsuit the government brought last year regarding the railroad’s handling of Amtrak’s Crescent.
The Justice Department — in only the second case of its kind since Amtrak was granted the right of preference in 1973 — had alleged that NS unlawfully gave its freight trains priority over the Crescent. The resulting delays, the Justice Department said in July 2024, harmed and inconvenienced passengers, impeded passenger rail transportation, and negatively affected Amtrak’s financial performance [see “Justice Department sues Norfolk Southern …,” Trains.com, July 30, 2024].
In January, NS sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that the government’s “extreme” interpretation of passenger train right of preference would produce gridlock.
As part of the settlement, Norfolk Southern agreed to:
- Provide all Amtrak trains the highest priority.
- Train its dispatchers to prioritize Amtrak trains.
- Require supervisor approval for any dispatching decision that does not give priority to Amtrak trains in non-emergency situations.
- Provide records regarding delays to the Crescent on the NS portion of the trains’ route between Alexandria, Va., and New Orleans.
- Help the Justice Department determine the root cause of delays to the Crescent.
“Americans traveling by train are entitled to trips free from delays caused by railroads failing to give Amtrak preference over freight trains,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement. “The settlement reached today, as well as Norfolk Southern’s improved performance on Amtrak’s Crescent Route, demonstrates the Department of Justice’s commitment to protecting everyday American train passengers.”
In 2023, according to Amtrak data, 57% of Crescent passengers arrived on time, which was well below the 80% threshold required under federal customer on-time performance standards that went into effect in 2020. Six other long-distance trains posted worse on-time performance in 2023, when none of the railroad’s 15 long-distance trains met the federal standard.
Amtrak said it appreciates the Justice Department’s efforts to resolve the matter with Norfolk Southern, as well as steps NS has taken to improve the Crescent’s performance.
“Since the case was filed, Amtrak’s performance on NS-hosted routes has shown measurable improvement,” spokesman Marc Magliari says. “On the Crescent route alone, NS-related delays are down 34% year-over-year, with Freight Train Interference (FTI) reduced by 53%. Across all NS-hosted routes, delays decreased 26% and FTI dropped 42% year-over-year. Ridership on these routes also rose by 2%, reflecting growing customer confidence in service reliability.”
In all, NS controls 1,140 of the Crescent’s 1,377 route-miles.
“The agreement reflects our longstanding efforts to provide preference to Amtrak as required under the law and establishes a process for future engagement that includes regular reviews of dispatcher training and steps to evaluate and address delays to Amtrak trains. We’re grateful for the collaboration to reach an amicable resolution,” NS spokeswoman Dawn Benton says.
Amtrak in 2023 asked the Justice Department to enforce the railroad’s right of preference.
“Vigorous enforcement of these rights is critical to Amtrak’s success in providing fast, safe, and reliable passenger rail service, and the Attorney General is the sole enforcer of an Amtrak right that is critical to providing such service,” then-Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner wrote in a May 19 letter to then Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Gardner noted that nearly all of the railroad’s long-distance routes fail to meet the Federal Railroad Administration’s on-time performance standards. The letter did not single out the Crescent.
The only other right of preference case brought against a host railroad came in 1979, when the Justice Department sued Southern Pacific for its handling of the Los Angeles-New Orleans Sunset Limited. The case resulted in a consent decree, rather than a final court determination.
Amtrak under Gardner also brought the first on-time performance case to the Surface Transportation Board regarding Union Pacific’s handling of the Sunset Limited. Amtrak and UP reached a settlement in that case in July [see “Amtrak, Union Pacific reach settlement …,” Trains.com, July 31, 2025]. While details of that settlement were not released, a joint Amtrak-UP announcement said it would include “continuous training and education for [UP] employees with responsibilities to Amtrak.”
Note: Updated at 12:20 p.m. Central with comment from Amtrak.
Share this article
