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We've just returned from a two week trip around the perimeter of the US of A and think there's a possiblity that the freight rail roads that take ALL the heat for delays may be responsible a lot of the time but not all the time. When I was in the airline industry we had a program called "START". The heart of the program was to get the first departure of the day out schedule and try to maintain that schedule enroute and at turn stations. When Amtrak starts late it's my guess they begin to lose the "slots" allocated for them along the line. If the dwell time at downline stations is exceeded that too puts Amtrak further behind the freights and the snow ball begins. If Amtrak paid more attention to adhering to its own schedule it might just help get the trains in, in a more acceptable time frame.
"Delays assigned to Amtrak represented 29 percent of all delay hours in 2003. Delays ascribed to host railroads represented 65 percent, and other delays accounted for the remaining 6 percent....Throughout the years, host railroad delays have consistently represented the largest share of delay hours. Between 2000 and 2003, host railroad and other delays increased each year. Amtrak-caused delay hours declined in both 2002 and 2003 but remain greater than they were in 2000."
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