WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board is seeking more information in the long-running dispute between Canadian National Railway and Amtrak over a new operating agreement.
In a decision issued on Tuesday (April 8), the board asked for information on 14 separate aspects of topics including scheduling and on-time performance; incentives and penalties; host-responsible delays; and incremental costs. Eight of the requests are addressed specifically to CN, although Amtrak has an option to respond to one of those. The rest are for both parties.
Some of the requests address specific technical details — for example, the number of interlockings not controlled by CN on the routes covered in the agreement, or whether CN’s agreement with Metra requires it to give the commuter operator preference over Amtrak.
Others address long-running issues, such as the “shunt” problem regarding grade-crossing activation that has long required Amtrak to use Superliner equipment or other axle-count cars between Chicago and Carbondale, Ill. [see “The quest to counteract ‘loss of shunt’ …,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 5, 2023]. The board has asked each party if they consider the issue resolved. The STB also is requesting that the two sides resolve any remaining uncertified schedules — an aspect of the current on-time performance rules — by July 22, or explain why they have been unable to do so.
Responses to most of the questions are due by May 8; those regarding schedule certification, payment and penalty data, and incremental costs, are due July 22. Each side then has until Sept. 22 to reply to the initial responses.
The CN-Amtrak contract dispute is one of the longest-running items on the STB docket, dating to 2013. Their inability to agree on a new contract has left operations governed by an agreement dating to 2011. In February, Chairman Patrick Fuchs called it out as one where the board needed to expedite resolution as part of a list of such long-running matters [see “STB chairman updates efforts …,” News Wire, Feb. 21, 2025]. The board last addressed the matter in 2022 [see “Competing claims complicate Amtrak-CN STB filings …,” News Wire, Aug. 1, 2022].]
What is the deadline for replies? It would seem that both Amtrak and CN would have all answers ready in one week. If CN says it needs more time that would appear to indicate that CN is looking for new reasons.