Train delays are rising in the East. It won’t get better soon.
Construction projects disrupt Amtrak routes
Amtrak disruptions are on the rise in the Northeast and are likely to linger for years as extreme weather events become more frequent, Amtrak’s aging fleet requires more upkeep and reconstruction projects begin on the nation’s busiest passenger rail corridor, railroad officials say.
Delays have plagued travelers from D.C. to Boston in recent months, many attributed to heat-related speed restrictions and train breakdowns. Track work has also hampered trips up and down the route.
‘‘This is really part of the conundrum we face,’’ Amtrak president Roger Harris said, citing decades of deferred maintenance. ‘‘Now we have the money to do work. And to do work, you have to do things like take tracks out of service to get the work done.’’
The carrier, which transports more passengers in the Northeast than airlines, is launching major construction projects along various segments of the route as it begins to use some of the $66 billion made available for rail in the infrastructure law.
Most of the money, federal transportation officials say, will go toward upgrading track and replacing century-old tunnels and bridges along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.
Massive projects, such as the construction of a new Hudson River tunnel between New York and New Jersey and a replacement for the 150-year-old Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, have received federal funding and will require years of construction.
On Wednesday, train delays varied from 20 minutes to more than an hour across different sections of the Northeast Corridor. A trespasser south of Boston delayed an Acela train by an hour. A Northeast Regional train departed Washington 40 minutes late because of mechanical issues.
Systemwide, more than onequarter of Amtrak passengers encountered delays in June, according to performance data, with an average delay of 54 minutes. Disruptions are more pronounced for travelers on longdistance routes — which are late more than half the time — and in parts of the country outside the Northeast Corridor. The share of delayed customers is also trending up, Amtrak’s data shows.
Delays also have stemmed from a July derailment in Washington, collisions at rail crossings and trespassers entering restricted areas along the track. The work — combined with weather-related speed restrictions — have meant longer trips for passengers.
‘‘They’ve got all sorts of excuses. Bottom line is, it’s not just bad, it’s unacceptable,’’ said Sinan Ciddi, an Alexandria resident who takes a Northeast Regional train most weeks to Quantico, where he teaches security studies.
Rarely is his train on time, said Ciddi, who has experienced delays of 15 minutes to more than an hour this summer. On a recent morning, he said, his train was delayed 90 minutes because of a signal problem at Union Station. When he travels to New York, he flies because of concerns over the rail network’s reliability.
Amtrak said its fleet, which includes trains about 50 years old, is requiring more frequent maintenance. Amtrak purchased new trains for the Northeast, including 28 Acela trains that were planned to enter service in 2021, but now are in line to debut next year. The company decommissioned four Acela trains during the pandemic because they were past their life span.
The rising challenges come as demand for Amtrak service has surpassed 2019 numbers, while the carrier has said it’s constrained to increase capacity because it doesn’t have enough trains. Amtrak served more than 1.1 million Northeast Corridor passengers in June, up slightly from June 2019.
Sean Jeans-Gail, vice president of government affairs and policy at the Rail Passengers Association, said it’s a terrible time to have more service breakdowns, considering the surge in ridership and that new passengers are experiencing rail for the first time. Passengers are reporting frustration across the network, he said, and in the Northeast in particular, raising questions about effects from maintenance work.
‘‘Yes, it’s going to get worse,’’ he said. ‘‘We are in for more significant disruptions to the way we move around the country.’’
During the summer months, Amtrak is issuing daily alerts to passengers that trains might experience delays because of excessive heat and weather-related disruptions. Officials say rail congestion and speed restrictions can reverberate across the entire system.
Advocates are pressing Amtrak to take steps that could reduce the delays, while passengers say the railroad isn’t communicating the problems effectively.
Amtrak said it is working to improve communications and has taken steps to compensate the rising number of passengers who experience problems. Passengers can use a self-serve process for ticket refunds when a train is canceled or to change trains when they are delayed.