The North American passenger rail landscape in 2024 included a number of service debuts, some so noteworthy that they earned a spot in the year’s top stories, which will appear through Dec. 31. But the overarching theme was continued growth punctuated by intermittent operating lapses.
Leading the way with new ridership achievements — thanks, in part, to the introduction of new round-trips since 2023 — were North Carolina’s Piedmonts and Carolinian; Virginia’s robust service to Norfolk, Newport News, and Roanoke; and the Pacific Northwest’s Amtrak Cascades. Most impressive was the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority’s all-time records for the Downeaster in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024: 598,426 passengers and $13.05 million in ticket revenue. The gains were driven entirely by promotion and public acceptance, not increased frequencies.
Amtrak set an all-time patronage record despite recurring mechanical and infrastructure failures that plagued the system. Extreme weather events throughout the year triggered annulments that lasted for days on the Southwest Chief, California Zephyr, Empire Builder, and Coast Starlight long-distance routes.
Many cancellations, tardy terminal departures, and en-route breakdowns afflicting Midwest regional service could be traced to misbehaving Siemens Charger locomotives, limited spare equipment, and staffing insufficient to get trains out on time. Frequent disruptions spread to the busy Northeast Corridor during the summer, especially between Philadelphia and New York. Amtrak and NJ Transit officials identified aging catenary and faulty pantographs as primary culprits, and in November explained what they were doing to correct problems.
Infrastructure challenges also played a role in the New York-Montreal Adirondack’s extended hiatus from late May through early September. Improvements to Canadian National track north of the U.S. border hadn’t been completed to prevent 15-mph slow orders if temperatures rose above 85 degrees Fahrenheit. So rather than risk lengthy weather-related delays, for the second summer in a row Amtrak and New York State’s Department of Transportation opted not to run the train north of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and did not offer alternate transportation. At least CN had previously pledged to complete the work to prevent a third recurrence in 2025.
Long-delayed repairs to the East River tunnels between Manhattan’s Penn Station and Sunnyside Yard in Queens prompted Amtrak to cancel two round trips between New York and Albany-Rensselaer, N.Y., resulting in a nearly 2-hour layover at the state capital’s station for northbound Adirondack passengers and more than an hour for southbound Maple Leaf travelers. Pressure from Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) and state lawmakers prompted Amtrak to restore the frequencies through March 2, 2025. It is unclear what action will be taken after that.
Constricted East River tunnel capacity was also the reason Amtrak gave to “temporarily” combine the Miami-New York Silver Star and Chicago-Washington, D.C., Capitol Limited into the Chicago-Miami Floridian, which debuted Nov. 10. Swapping out the Capitol’s Superliners for the Star’s Amfleet II coaches plus Viewliner sleeping and dining cars also restored traditional dining to the important east-west segment.
The bilevels could then be redeployed on long-distance routes, which continued to be impacted by equipment shortages. These were exacerbated by Canadian National’s requirement to operate seven Superliners on each of two Chicago-Carbondale, Ill., round trips. Lighter passenger cars on tracks south of Mattoon, Ill., have not always triggered highway warning devices where activation is determined by train speed.
Similar “lack of consistent shunt” concerns prompted CN to require VIA Rail Canada’s Venture trainsets to operate with at least seven cars and one locomotive if maximum authorized track speeds are to be maintained. Since VIA’s semi-permanently coupled trainsets are all configured with a coach-cab car, three economy coaches, and one business class car (plus the locomotive), the edict set off an acrimonious battle between VIA and its predominant host.
The requirement was abruptly imposed on all CN routes in October, just as Canada’s Thanksgiving Holiday began. Earlier in the year, VIA started running all-Venture departures on the Quebec City-Montreal-Ottawa corridor, where CN had instituted some Venture-specific highway crossing speed restrictions. Canadian National claimed it had no idea its dispatchers had routinely cleared Venture trainsets to operate on other CN trackage. As the calendar flips to 2025, the two parties are still at loggerheads: VIA has asked a Canadian court to review the host railroad’s speed limits; its trains continue to incur delays slowing to 45 mph on CN while the trainsets run at 90 mph on its own rails and other host railroads.
Meanwhile in Florida, Brightline is operating essentially the same equipment across speed-predictive highway crossings at 110-mph up to 32 times per day without incident. The company is attempting to build long-haul patronage on its hourly Miami-Orlando service that debuted in September 2023, but the limited capacity of its four-car trainsets caused management to dump deep discounts for West Palm Beach-Miami commuters beginning in June. Several of the original 16 round trips have been temporarily discontinued as coaches from some trainsets are distributed to bulk up others until 10 additional coaches arrive from Siemens’ Sacramento, Calif., factory.
Brightline continues to experiment with pricing and day-specific schedules keyed to differences in demand. Its downtown Miami terminal began hosting parallel commuter operator Tri-Rail’s shuttles, as well as a Tri-Rail limited-stop rush-hour round-trip from West Palm Beach to MiamiCentral.
On the Mississippi-Alabama Gulf Coast, Amtrak was finally able to strike a deal in August with the City of Mobile that will allow a station platform and pocket track to be built. The caveat: a promise that no additional passenger service would be added other than two daily round trips to New Orleans, or extended beyond Mobile. Completion of that agreement permitted federal construction grant money to be obligated, paving the way for CSX and Norfolk Southern to make infrastructure improvements for service to finally begin “early” in 2025.
While resumption of passenger service on a 145-mile portion of the Sunset Limited’s pre-Hurricane Katrina route has been mired in commercial and ideological roadblocks since a public inspection train first ran in February 2016, Mexico managed to open on Dec. 31, 2023, the initial 300-mile segment of an entirely new 965-mile passenger railroad. Construction had begun in 2020. This month, the Yucatan Peninsula’s Maya Train was finally completed through thick forests that once hosted 3-foot gauge steam locomotives. Environmental requirements and investment priorities are vastly different between the two countries, of course, but the Mexican operation provides a reality check of what is possible in lieu of excuses and consultant studies.
Previous News Wire coverage:
California Zephyr resumes full route after a week of cancellations, March 6, 2024
Amtrak, NJ Transit Northeast Corridor service snarled by catenary issues, April 15, 2024
Tri-Rail to launch West Palm Beach-Miami limited-stop, rush-hour service July 1, June 1, 2024
Significant delays, cancellations disrupt Amtrak’s network, July 12, 2024
Lack of equipment leads to cancellation of Southwest Chief round trip, July 16, 2024
What’s next for Amtrak Gulf Coast service: Analysis, Aug. 7, 2024
Brightline monthly ridership steady as riders shift to longer trips: Analysis, Aug. 16, 2024
Weather issues disrupt Amtrak, NJ Transit on Northeast Corridor, Aug. 18, 2024
Adirondack resumes Monday with Canadian trackwork incomplete, Sept. 7, 2024
Lengthy Amtrak delays in August come in many of the same places: Analysis, Sept. 9, 2024
Adirondack operating indifference continues: Analysis, Oct. 10, 2024
VIA Venture slowdown limited to CN-maintained track: Analysis, Oct. 17, 2024
Floridian debuts with delays, offers major coach travel discounts: Analysis, Nov. 11, 2024
Amtrak restores most Empire Service through March 2, Nov. 13, 2024
VIA goes to court over CN speed restrictions on Venture trainsets, Nov. 13, 2024
Floridian travel tips: Plan for delays, massage Corridor connections, seek quirky pricing — Analysis, Nov. 18, 2024
Amtrak, NJ Transit update efforts to address Northeast Corridor disruptions, Nov. 20, 2024
Amtrak highlights ridership, revenue, infrastructure gains in fiscal 2024 results, Dec. 3, 2024
Mexican president to open final segment of Maya Train, Dec. 9, 2024
This article got all of the service challenges correct. I was “ditched” twice in KCY this year with “no alternate transportation”. People were of the “Never again Amtrak” mindset. One issue was a freight derailment. What happened to bus bridges? The other was potential inclement weather in New Mexico. What???? Since when can trains not run through 10″ of snow??? Amtrak management is poor at best. And Amtrak still wants to blame freight railroads for 80% of their issues. I reiterate: very POOR management at Amtrak.