Some Good News on Union Pacific and from Amtrak

My trip from San Antonio to Los Angeles, departing Thursday morning, March 15, suggests that Union Pacific dispatchers are doing a good job for Amtrak. We left San Antonio about three hours late, delays east of there having been caused by high water warnings, as well as signal and locomotive problems.  We passed siding after siding with freights in the hole waiting for us. I think we only went into a siding twice between San Antonio and El Paso…both without slowing below perhaps 30 mph, first to meet the eastbound Sunset and later to go around a big freight near El Paso.  We got down to 2:21 late departing El Paso (after condensing a 45 minute scheduled dwell time to 15 minutes), but a disabled freight problem further west put us back slightly over three hours.

Bottom line—on the strength of this trip, I give the dispatchers high marks.  Talking with an official of another major railroad, I think Kummant is likewise getting high marks for reaching out to the railroads.

It is perhaps significant that, in introducing Richard Phelps as Amtrak’s new Vice President—Transportation, Kummant told the NARP Region 12-RailPAC joint Annual Meeting audience in Los Angeles last Saturday that Phelps is respected both by his peers at Amtrak and by the freight railroads. Kummant also referred to Phelps’ long history with Amtrak and his institutional knowledge, which balances out some of Amtrak’s other new hires from outside the company and the industry. Phelps’ appointment is viewed by many advocates as a positive, because of his long and respected tenure as Amtrak’s Southwest Division General Superintendent.

—Ross Capon