Examining the Effects of Precision Scheduled Railroading Project 2016

on Intercity Passenger and High-Speed Rail Service March 2022

John G. Green, PhD, PE and Francis J. Miller III, PE

Table 1: Host Railroad Minutes of Delay per 10,000 Train-Miles

The research team began this project because the Study Methods
“Precision Scheduled Railroading” (PSR) has been Amtrak is the nation’s sole intercity passenger rail
adopted as a railroad operating strategy by six of service and its current high-speed rail operator.
the seven Class One (major) freight railroads in the Therefore, the authors contacted and participated
United States in the last five years. PSR strategies in meetings and discussions with numerous
strive to make railroads as efficient as possible, Amtrak staff at various levels within Operations,
and the industry has seen dramatic reductions in Engineering, and Maintenance departments to
personnel, equipment, and trackage. Since PSR seek input from the railroad’s personnel. Amtrak’s
was first put into practice, the benefits to shipment network consists of tracks owned, maintained, and
arrival reliability and to freight railroads’ profitability dispatched by freight railroads who “host” Amtrak
has been demonstrated by its implementation in trains using their tracks. The major freight railroads
several Class One freight railroads. This research control the dispatching and thereby decide on
focuses on the previously unstudied effects on which trains have priority. Federal law requires that
passenger railway operations in shared freight/ Amtrak trains receive preference over freight trains,
passenger corridors.

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M I N E TA T R A N S P O R TAT I O N I N S T I T U T E Project 2016 March 2022

but the largest cause of Amtrak delays is due to suffers significantly, restoring track may alleviate
freight train interference. the problem. A potential source of funding for such
To determine the effects of PSR on Amtrak’s track restorations would be the Federal Railroad
intercity passenger rail service, the authors Administration’s “Consolidated Rail Infrastructure
collected data from Amtrak for two different and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program.”
measures, viewed over time: (1) the total minutes
delay that the host freight railroads cause Amtrak to About the Authors
suffer, and (2) the percentage of Amtrak trains that Dr. John G. Green is an Assistant Professor of
arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival Civil Engineering and Railroad Engineering in the
time. Also, the authors noted the year when PSR Civil and Geomatics Engineering Department at
was first implemented at each major freight railroad California State University, Fresno (Fresno State),
because it is necessary to understand the effects of with more than 24 years of experience in railway
PSR on passenger service over time. projects. He is a Past President of the Illinois
Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE) and the current Vice Chairperson of AREMA
The results of the study suggest that if
Committee 24. His current research interests
implemented properly, PSR strategies
will have no effect on a freight railroad’s
are in high-speed passenger railways, railroad
ability to host Amtrak Intercity and High- freight transportation, and in the transportation of
Speed Rail passenger railway service, but agricultural products.
that if implemented incorrectly, the host
railroad can negatively affect Amtrak’s Mr. Francis Miller is a licensed Professional
train performance. Engineer with more than 36 years of experience in
the planning, design, construction, inspection and
Findings project management of major railway, track, and
facility engineering projects and is Vice-President
The results are mixed. Considering the measure
and Director of Track Design for AECOM. He
of “Host Railroad Minutes of Delay per 10,000 currently serves as Vice-President of AREMA’s
Train-Miles” suggests that PSR may be able to Passenger & Transit Functional Group.
improve a railroad’s ability to reduce delays of the
Amtrak passenger trains that it hosts. Of the five To Learn More
railroads that implemented PSR, one has worsened For more details about the study, download the full
its minutes of delay rate, two railroads have report at [Link]/research/2016
experienced no significant changes, and two have
experienced significant improvements. Alternatively,
considering “On-Time Performance” measures
suggests that PSR strategies have the potential to
worsen a host railroad’s performance. Setting aside
the Canadian National Railway, which began PSR
prior to the earliest year of data, of the other five
railroads, three showed no significant difference.
However, after PSR strategies were initiated at
two of the Class One railroads, their on-time
performance worsened noticeably. The California State University Transportation
Consortium (CSUTC), led by the Mineta Transportation
Policy/Practice Recommendations Institute, fosters synergies across the entire California
State University system to conduct impactful
If PSR-related track removals are found to have
transportation research and engage in workforce
reduced capacity in a section of mainline to the development initiatives that increase mobility of people
point that on-time performance of passenger trains and goods and strengthen California’s economy.

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