Amtrak running 60 minutes behind schedule

Train commuters need to keep a time buffer or choose an alternate way as Amtrak trains are slow and delayed due to a minor technical glitch.

New Jersey city commuters may face delay of as much as 60 minutes as Amtrak is fixing a power problem that idled trains of both railroads.
New Jersey Transit declared in an email message that the trains are running behind schedule in the Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line and Midtown Direct Lines. Earlier the delays were stretched up to 90 minutes.

The Government owned corporation, The National Railroad Passenger Corporation which is doing business with the name Amtrak was setup on May 1, 1971. This service was organized with the objective to provide intercity passenger service in the United States.

The word Amtrak has its reference from two words “America” and “Track”. The corporation has it’s headquarter at Union Station in Washington D.C. The Corporation nearly had 65,000 railroad passenger cars operating in 1929.

Last month in May, from 9 to 12 Long Island Rail Road commuters spend four long days waiting for Amtrak to repair. Dozens of trains were canceled due to the problem although the fault was said to be a minor derailment in the Amtrak owned East River tunnel. But it left commuters cramped up in cars for nearly 100 hours.

Amtrak’s senior management teams kept a low profile and seem to be avoiding public questions. A bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. John Mica (R-Florida) and Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania) to transfer all the assets in the Northeast corridor to the U.S. government.

Amtrak president and CEO Joseph Boardman had asked Congress in April 2011 to fund Amtrak’s operations with an aid of $2.2 billion. Amtrak argued that it could make profit if it doesn’t have to operate long distance service trains to rural parts of U.S.

“For some policy makers, the benefits of long distance service aren’t clear, and in this political and economic climate, there will be more questions on this topic” Mr. Boardman wrote.