SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

The Surface Transportation Board announced today that it has granted a request from Amtrak to dismiss with prejudice Amtrak’s complaint regarding the on-time performance (OTP) of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited service and to close the Board’s related investigation following a negotiated settlement.  The Sunset Limited provides long-distance passenger rail service between New Orleans, Louisiana and Los Angeles, California.

In December of 2022, Amtrak submitted a Complaint and Petition for Board Investigation and Other Relief requesting that the Board initiate an investigation of the OTP on its Sunset Limited service.  The 1,997-mile-long route travels mostly over track hosted by Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP).

The Board has authority to investigate when the OTP of an intercity passenger train averages less than 80 percent for two consecutive quarters, to determine whether and to what extent delays or failure to achieve the minimum standards are due to causes that could reasonably be addressed by the passenger rail operator or the host railroad.

In a first-of-its-kind proceeding, the Board initiated an investigation and built a significant record, including information regarding over 1,000 individual delay events.

In its motion, Amtrak states that it has reached a settlement with UP and requests the Board dismiss its complaint and terminate the Board’s investigation.  None of the parties the Board previously deemed necessary to the proceeding object to either of those outcomes.

In today’s decision, the Board grants Amtrak’s unopposed request to dismiss its complaint with prejudice and close the investigation in light of the voluntary settlement.

“The Board favors parties coming together to voluntarily resolve disputes whenever possible, and I commend the parties here for finding a mutually satisfactory outcome,” said STB Chairman Patrick Fuchs.  “I want to recognize the excellent, expert work of Board staff to evaluate the extraordinary amount of evidence in the Sunset Limited proceeding, and I am confident that this work has positioned the agency to deliver strong results for the public in any future passenger rail proceeding.  More broadly, this case shows that parties can privately settle even the most complex and extensively litigated matters, and I continue to encourage parties to Board proceedings to intensify their efforts to collaboratively resolve disputes.”

The decision in Complaint & Petition of the National Railroad Passenger Corp. Under 49 U.S.C. § 24308(f)—for Substandard Performance of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited Trains 1 & 2, Docket No. NOR 42175, may be viewed and downloaded here.