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Statement from the Chairman Regarding the Sunset Limited Investigation

FOR RELEASE
01/13/2025 (Monday) [PDF Version]
No. 25-01

Contact:

202-245-1760
FedRelay 1 (800) 877-8339

As we begin 2025, we do so having achieved marked progress on the Sunset Limited on-time performance (OTP) investigation, a critically important matter.

An OTP investigation under Section 213 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) is designed to determine whether and to what extent delays or failures to achieve minimum standards are due to causes that could reasonably be addressed by the passenger rail operator or the host railroad(s).

Since beginning to investigate the causes of poor OTP of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited long-distance passenger trains between New Orleans, Louisiana, Los Angeles, California, and 20 intermediate stations, the agency has built a significant record that includes track profiles, timetables, operating procedures, rulebooks, railroad policy and training manuals, operating agreements, freight operations data, and train delay data.  In particular, the agency has investigated over 1,000 individual delay events.

Last August the agency set forth a robust and ambitious procedural schedule with the hopes of rendering a final determination in this matter by early summer 2025.  We are on track to achieve this goal and will continue to progress toward the mark.

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The docket, No. NOR 42175, Complaint and Petition of the National Railroad Passenger Corp. 49 U.S.C. § 24308(f)—For Substandard Performance of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited Trains 1 and 2, may be located here by entering the docket number.

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