Money for train delays? NJ congressman pushes for Amtrak accountability

NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11) – Like many others, Niama Ore’s patience at Newark Penn Station has been tested.

“Myself, and some other people,” said Ore. “I mean, God is patient with us every day, so why not be patient with everything else?”

But not everyone is as patient.

It’s been a year filled with morning and evening commute meltdowns , cancellations and delays – many of them caused by aging Amtrak infrastructure, like overhead catenary wires, which power the trains.

To try to get New Jersey Transit commuting back on track, Rep. Josh Gottheimer is introducing what he calls the All Aboard Act – a bill that’s modeled after new air passenger rights put into place this year by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“If your train is delayed by hours, you should get your money back,” said Gottheimer. “There’s no reason we should just address passenger rights for the air. We should also do it for the rail.”

If passed into law, his bill would create a rail passenger bill of rights, which would guarantee automatic refunds to Amtrak riders and New Jersey Transit riders impacted by Amtrak delays if their train is canceled or significantly changed by more than three hours.

“This new measure will compel Amtrak to prevent delays for commuters to the greatest extent possible,” said Gottheimer.

For longtime NJ Transit riders like Ron Kurzeja, it’s a welcome idea.

“Long overdue,” said Kurzeja. “It’s time to make the system accountable. Accountability is on-time performance.”

Gottheimer has also requested a meeting this week with Amtrak leadership and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Amtrak said in a statement to PIX11 News in part,

Amtrak is working hard to improve the reliability of the Northeast Corridor after nearly five decades of chronic underfunding by both the federal government and our commuter partners. We and NJ TRANSIT, like, Congressman Gottheimer, want on-time service that meet customer expectations and we are working diligently, together, to identify root causes and make improvements to the many old assets we rely on every day to support roughly 450 daily trains in New Jersey.

Amtrak

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