Amtrak lower priority than trains that make money carrying oil

AP/Fuel Fix:

The ice fishing in northeast North Dakota is the best it’s been in two decades, but some anglers can’t make it because trains handling freight and crude from the state’s oil patch are displacing Amtrak passenger service.

Steve Dahl, owner of the Perch Patrol guide service, said he spent the past week calling hundreds of customers who had made reservations to fish at Devils Lake and stay in its namesake city.

“The conditions are perfect but I’ve had to explain to them about this dumb train thing,” Dahl said. “For some of them who had their heart set on this, I would have rather told them I ran over their dog.”

The federally funded rail corporation, which uses BNSF Railway Co. lines, said the “severe freight train interference” is causing long delays along its Chicago-to-Pacific Northwest Empire Builder route. In North Dakota,

Amtrak trains are bypassing the cities of Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Rugby. Passengers in those cities are being bused to either Minot or to Fargo to reconnect to westbound or eastbound trains.
The detours are expected to continue through February, said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari.

Devils Lake Mayor Dick Johnson said the track congestion hurts the city’s economy and residents’ ability to travel, especially the elderly who routinely take trains to hospitals in Minnesota. The city of about 7,500 has no scheduled bus or flight service.

“We depend on Amtrak as a key part of our public transportation service. We are crippled and landlocked without it,” Johnson said. “But oil and freight is taking priority over people, that’s pretty much a given.”
BNSF said in a statement it has been “disappointed in our service” but that oil trains are not solely responsible for the delays because other freight volumes also have been increasing. Severe winter weather also “has significantly impacted our efforts to make service improvements for both Amtrak and all freight customers.”

Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF is part of Warren Buffett’s Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Magliari said Amtrak has an operating agreement in place with BNSF that sets rates Amtrak must pay and incentives for BNSF to ensure Amtrak’s “on-time delivery of trains.”
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Trains have always been a funny business.  The more traffic they have the cheaper it is to haul the freight.  That is why regulators set rate structures to give all shippers a "fair rate."  But, hauling subsidized passengers cannot compete with profitable freight traffic, and is unlikely to ever do so.  That is another reason why the dreams of passenger rail resurgence are not likely to be realized.  But a pipeline like the Keystone XL could ease the rail traffic congestion.  It is ironic that the people who oppose Keystone are the ones who push passenger rail.