Crowds stand at Amtrak platform as train service is suspended at Penn Station in New York City, U.S., June 19, 2019.'s inspector general estimates that the railroad could save more than $40 million annually by increasing on-time performance.
Many of those rampant delays, however, are caused by the freight railroads responsible for most of Amtrak's service. Still, Amtrak expects to be profitable by 2021, its CEO has said. There's plenty of work to be done. Chronic Amtrak delays are hampering the railroad's efforts to break even by 2021, and are costing an estimated $41.9 million per year over the long term., the immediate impacts could see $8.2 million in reduced costs and $3.9 million in increased revenues.
A bulk of those delays — with which many Amtrak passengers are all too familiar — happen because the trains rely on "host railroads" to operate when Amtrak doesn't own the trackage outright. Only 3% of Amtrak's 21,400 route-miles are owned by Amtrak itself. "Although federal law requires host railroads to give passenger trains preference over freight trains," the inspector general wrote, "company executives have stated publicly that host railroads routinely disregard these laws, resulting in delays."
Hipstercrite This might be where the budget for the dining cars went.