By Andrew Corselli, Managing Editor, Railway Age Magazine; March 20, 2020
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has issued an NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) for measuring the performance and service quality of Amtrak intercity passenger trains that operate on host freight railroad trackage. The proposed rule “would define Amtrak intercity passenger train on-time performance, and would set forth—on average—a minimum on-time performance standard of 80%,” FRA said.
The proposed performance and service quality metrics “aim to give customers, Amtrak, its service providers, FRA and others a common tool to help objectively gauge intercity passenger train travel,” FRA noted. “This rule proposes additional measurements for evaluating how well Amtrak serves the public, including financial performance and customer service metrics.”