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The long-standing conflict between Amtrak and the MTA’s Metro-North Railroad has escalated, spilling over onto the tracks and potentially affecting millions of commuters. Amtrak has leveled serious accusations against Metro-North, alleging that it is deliberately slowing down non-passenger trains as a bargaining chip in an ongoing contractual dispute.
In a federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday night, Amtrak charged that Metro-North has been obstructing its non-passenger trains over the past two months. These trains are crucial for test runs, safety inspections, and equipment relocations on the Hudson and New Haven Lines. Amtrak contends that this obstruction is severely hampering essential operations necessary to keep passenger services running smoothly.
“Metro-North’s actions violate agreements that have been in place for more than 35 years, causing significant harm to our operations,” an Amtrak spokesperson stated on Thursday. “These actions undermine safety-critical rail activities, disrupt essential services for millions of passengers, and jeopardize the reliability of intercity rail travel.”
Amtrak has issued a stark warning that if this blockade persists while both parties engage in arbitration, commuters will face the consequences. The disruption could lead to increased delays and cancellations, as locomotives and cars may end up stranded in Metro-North’s territory. This stranding would leave Amtrak short of the equipment needed to adhere to its schedules.
Riders could see more delays and cancellations as locomotives and cars get stranded on the wrong side of Metro‑North’s territory, leaving Amtrak without enough equipment in the right places to maintain its timetable, according to Amtrak.
The rollout of Amtrak’s new NextGen Acela fleet is also at stake because blocked test runs over Metro‑North’s tracks threaten to delay the new high-speed trains from entering service even as older Acelas age out, Amtrak said.
In court docs, Amtrak cast the damage as reputational, arguing that once passengers give up on its reliability and switch to cars or planes, it may not be easy to win them back.
Metro-North’s block of Amtrak’s non-passenger trains lands on the heels of Amtrak quietly blocking a Metro‑North plan to extend service from Poughkeepsie to Albany after the MTA floated running its own Empire Service trains after Amtrak cut service amid construction.
The two train companies fought other skirmishes last year as well.
Last fall, Amtrak’s president blamed the MTA’s “wounded pride” for a public blame game over years‑long delays to the $2.9 billion Penn Station Access project, after MTA officials pinned the holdup on Amtrak’s failure to provide work windows and staff.
The pair also clashed last year over Amtrak’s plan to close one of four century‑old East River tunnel tracks for more than a year of repairs. Amtrak engineers warned the crumbling, salt‑soaked tunnel needed a full shutdown, while MTA leaders blasted the scheme as a recipe for “untenable” train delays.
The MTA bizarrely responded to the lawsuit by blaming the federal government.
“It’s not clear who in the federal government is directing Amtrak’s lawyers to create distractions from the real issue — getting Bronxites the service they deserve,” said John J. McCarthy, MTA chief for policy and external relations.