Waiting for freight trains is the largest cause of passenger train delays, according to Amtrak. America's rail network is set to favor freight trains, even though, by law, passenger trains should get priority.
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Often, a delay will happen because something is in the way. It happens more than you may think. Cars get stuck crossing the rails. In most areas, where only a single track runs between stations, FrontRunner trains traveling in opposite directions need to wait for each other to pass.
Some train companies will also give you compensation if your train is more than 15 minutes late. You need to keep your train tickets to get a refund. You should try to claim within 28 days, but some train companies allow longer.
Don't worry, though, they're not invalid. If a train is cancelled (and that's what's happened here) you're entitled to take the next train that matches any restrictions on your ticket.
You can always visit Amtrak.com to learn the real-time status of a train. Click “Train Status” on the top bar of the homepage and enter a few key pieces of information to learn when a train will be arriving.
Amtrak is on-time an average of 83 percent of the time compared to commercial airlines 81.9 percent of the time. Amtrak is also very safe compared with other modes of transportation. You are 16 times more likely to die in an automobile than on Amtrak, and twice as likely to die on a transit bus than on Amtrak.
The vast majority of Amtrak's services run on time. It is the long distance trains where the same train is on the move for 24 hours or even several days between departure point and destination where the severe delays do sometimes occur.
If you have a travel insurance policy with delay coverage, it will pay claims for reasonable costs incurred while you wait for your trip to continue. However, reimbursement is only possible if the delay meets the minimum requirements laid out by the insurance company for time length and cause.
Generally, if your train is cancelled or rescheduled, you are entitled to a full refund from the firm you were due to travel with for any ticket type, including advance tickets (see how to claim your money back). This includes where the train is cancelled due to strike action.
Many of the lines don't make any money or are operated at a loss. To accommodate the money-losing routes, Amtrak uses profits from its popular lines, such as the Northeast Corridor. Since this is one of the most popular routes, Amtrak can charge higher prices and send those profits to other, less profitable lines.