Rail improvements help Amtrak deal with delays

Passenger train service for Amtrak’s Empire Builder is expected to return to its normal schedule with more convenient arrival and departure times in Whitefish.

Amtrak changed the schedule for the Empire Builder in April to cope with high volumes of freight traffic and railroad work on the route owned by BNSF Railway.

Beginning Jan. 13, westbound trains will arrive at the Whitefish train depot at 8:56 p.m., while eastbound trains will arrive at 7:26 a.m. The changes in April had bumped the westbound arrival to 10:26 p.m. and the eastbound to 4:26 a.m.

The Empire Builder travels between Portland, Seattle and Chicago. Whitefish is the passenger train’s busiest stop in Montana, with about 65,000 riders boarding there in 2013.

The train’s on-time arrival rate in the past year, however, has been a dismal 23.9 percent. Amtrak officials blamed the delay primarily on train interference.

As a result, ridership at Whitefish was down 27 percent through the first 10 months of the 2014 compared to 2013, according to data from the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana.

BNSF Railway spokesman Matt Jones says the company has invested $1 billion on the line to improve traffic flow for both freight and passenger service. Improvements included 55 miles of double track between Glasgow and Minot, N.D., 17 miles of double track in Washington, and siding extensions and yard expansions.

“All of these will contribute to significant additional capacity along the northern corridor,” Jones said.

In a press statement, BNSF Railway says it’s committed to further improving the performance of the Empire Builder.

“BNSF has a long history of hosting passenger service on our freight network,” said DJ Mitchell, BNSF Railway’s assistant vice president of passenger operations. “The investments we are continuing to make will help improve reliability for all our customers, including Amtrak.”

Amtrak currently is offering a 30 percent discount on tickets to Whitefish through April 20. Also effective with the schedule restoration, the Empire Builder will resume operating on its normal route in both directions in North Dakota. Amtrak will then discontinue the use of chartered buses to cover missed station stops in Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Rugby, N.D., which has been routine since May.