Cargo crunch

The nation’s freight railroads are carrying record amounts of cargo but causing passenger trains in the Washington area and elsewhere to run behind schedule.

A combination of Asian imports hauled cross-country for the Christmas shopping season, a bumper corn crop and high fuel prices mean freight railroads are posting records almost every week.

For the week ending Oct. 16, they carried 33.1 billion “ton-miles” of freight, which refers to the amount of freight per mile carried throughout the nation’s rail network, according to the Association of American Railroads.

However, Amtrak, Virginia Railway Express and Maryland Rail Commuter trains share the same track used by freight railroads. In the Mid-Atlantic, the major freight railroads are CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway.

“The freight lines are very congested,” said Cliff Black, Amtrak spokesman. “It’s difficult in many cases to get Amtrak’s trains over their lines in an efficient and timely manner.”

The delays include rail service south of Washington and through the Carolinas, he said.

“The area around Washington, where we operate freight trains, two commuter lines and Amtrak, is certainly a continuing challenge but we strive to provide the best service possible,” said Gary Sease, CSX Transportation spokesman.

Railroads are using the congestion as a reason to ask Congress for funding to expand their systems.

Amtrak proposes a program of matching grants between federal and state governments to increase spending on railroad infrastructure.

“We think this congestion can be largely solved by capacity improvements,” Mr. Black said.

The freight railroad industry shares Amtrak’s point of view.

“The Department of Transportation says that the demand for freight transportation across all modes will increase 70 percent over the next two decades,” said Tom White, spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, a trade group for the railroad industry.

The AAR suggests tax incentives and public/private partnerships to encourage investment.

“For increased passenger capacity, it is clear that additional public investment would be required,” Mr. White said.

He said high fuel prices are adding to congestion by encouraging shippers to save money by switching their cargo from trucks to trains, which are more fuel-efficient and cost less per unit to transport.

For rail passengers, the political dilemma created by the congestion can mean their schedules get set back.

Mark Rober, VRE spokesman, blames the delays on schedule conflicts between freight and commuter trains.

Freight railroads normally are supposed to yield right-of-way to passenger trains but sometimes have difficulty clearing their tracks in time.

The worst problems for VRE are around the Quantico Creek Bridge south of Washington, which Mr. Rober calls “a choke point.”

The single-track bridge on the line between Fredericksburg, Va., and Washington is used by CSX Transportation, VRE and Amtrak.

VRE trains on the Fredericksburg line have reported on-time performance of about 84 percent in recent weeks.

“We can get up to the 90s when most things are going well over there,” Mr. Rober said.

The railroads and the state of Virginia are in the process of building a second track across the Quantico Creek Bridge to relieve congestion, but work will not be completed on the $26 million project until early 2006.

The VRE trains that run from Manassas to Washington on Norfolk Southern lines are reporting about 95 percent on-time performance, he said. The Norfolk Southern lines do not have choke points in Northern Virginia, Mr. Rober said.

MARC officials say conflicts with freight railroads do not create significant schedule problems for them.

Freight railroads blame the delays on limited resources.

“Existing rail infrastructure in the Northeast and Midwest U.S. is not unlimited and, as such, when there are a lot of trains moving on a particular line segment, keeping them all on time becomes a challenge,” said Rudy Husband, Norfolk Southern spokesman.

Other complaints about rail delays and heavy train traffic are coming from the railroads’ customers and residents near their rail yards.