Amtrak is canceling trips on some long-distance routes out of Chicago, as the deadline for a possible strike by freight rail workers looms.
Beginning Tuesday, the passenger rail agency is suspending service on routes between Chicago and San Francisco, the Pacific Northwest and Los Angeles. Service will also be suspended along part of a fourth route out of Chicago, between Los Angeles and San Antonio, Amtrak said.
The cancellations are intended to avoid possible disruptions should freight railroad workers walk out on strike while lengthy trips are underway on the California Zephyr, Empire Builder, Southwest Chief and Texas Eagle routes. Though Amtrak workers are not involved in the ongoing contract negotiations, nearly all of the passenger service’s routes outside the Northeast U.S. run on track that is owned, maintained and dispatched by freight railroads, and a walkout could disrupt passenger service.
“These adjustments are necessary to ensure trains can reach their terminals prior to freight railroad service interruption if a resolution in negotiations is not reached,” Amtrak officials said in a statement.
Federal law bars a freight railroad strike or lockout before Friday, and Congress could intervene and block a work stoppage if the unions and railroads can’t reach a deal by the end of the week. But Amtrak is only the latest agency to take preemptive steps beforehand.
The railroads said they would begin curtailing shipments of hazardous materials and other chemicals Monday to ensure carloads of dangerous products won’t be stranded along the tracks if the trains stop moving. The heads of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers — Transportation Division union that represents conductors, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union that represents engineers, criticized that decision as a move to increase pressure on shippers and Congress to intervene.
Business groups and the White House have pressured the railroads and unions to resolve the contract dispute because of concerns over the economic impact of halting shipments of materials so many companies rely on. The Association of American Railroads trade group put out a report last week estimating that shutting down the railroads would cost the economy $2 billion a day.
The majority of the unions representing some 115,000 workers have reached tentative agreements needed to avert a strike at the nation’s biggest freight railroads, including Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern and CSX. The tentative deals closely followed recommendations by a Presidential Emergency Board that called for 24% raises over five years, $5,000 in bonuses and one additional paid leave day a year.
But the two biggest unions representing conductors and engineers have been holding out because they want the railroads to go beyond those recommendations and address concerns about strict attendance policies that they say make it hard to take any time off, and increasing workloads after the railroads cut nearly one-third of their workforces in recent years.
In addition to carrying goods and Amtrak passenger trains, freight tracks also carry some Metra trains. The commuter rail agency has not made any changes to service this week, but said a freight strike or lockout could affect schedules.
Nine Metra lines — every line except the Metra Electric and Rock Island — interact with freight railroads in some way, such as by being dispatched by the railroads. Four of those lines — the BNSF and the Union Pacific North, Northwest and West lines — are directly owned and operated by freight railroads, and Metra said it expects any work stoppage would also stop service on those lines.
Amtrak also could make changes to additional long distance and state routes, beyond its initial cancellations, the agency said.
Amtrak said it would reach out to affected travelers, who can reschedule their travel or receive a refund with no additional fees.
The Associated Press contributed
sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
