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Why are so many U.S. trains running late?
美国为什么这么多火车会晚点？
Travel Troubleshooter
旅行疑难解答
Alan Gore wants to know why Amtrak is almost always late for him. Not just a little bit late, but ridiculously, absurdly, preposterously late, like the time he tried to catch an Amtrak train from Phoenix to Los Angeles. He and his girlfriend arrived before their scheduled 7 p.m. departure. And they waited. And waited. And waited. The train finally pulled into the station at 5 a.m. - the next day. They connected with the Amtrak Surfliner and arrived in San Luis Obispo, Calif., their final destination, a full day later than planned. “One of the conductors told me that being 12 hours late is perfectly normal,” says Gore, a photographer who lives in Sedona, Ariz. “I didn’t even bother asking for compensation.”
艾伦·戈尔想知道为什么美铁对他来说几乎总是晚点。不仅晚了一点，而且晚得可笑、荒谬、离谱，就像他试图赶上从凤凰城到洛杉矶的美铁列车一样。他和女友在原定的晚上7点出发前到达。他们等啊，等啊，等。火车终于在第二天早上5点进站了。他们与美国铁路公司的“冲浪者”号连接，比计划晚了一整天抵达他们的最终目的地加利福尼亚州圣路易斯奥比斯波。住在亚利桑那州塞多纳的摄影师戈尔说：“其中一名售票员告诉我，晚点12小时是完全正常的。我甚至没有要求赔偿。”
Anyone who travels by train in the United States knows that feeling. In the latest quarter, Amtrak trains were delayed 1.42 million minutes, up 9% from the previous quarter and an increase of 10% from 2022. It’s particularly bad on Gore’s route, the Sunset Limited. Over the past year, passengers have been delayed by a total of 11 weeks and only 28% of trains are on time, according to Amtrak. “That record is even worse than those numbers indicate because each of those long-distance trains is given a 30-minute grace period before it is officially designated as late,” explains Jim Loomis, author of “All Aboard: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide.”
任何在美国乘火车旅行的人都知道这种感受。最近一个季度，美铁列车延误了142万分钟，比上一季度增长9%，比2022年增长10%。戈尔的路线日落有限公司的情况尤其糟糕。根据美铁的数据，在过去的一年里，乘客总共延误了11周，只有28%的列车准时。《上车啦：全北美火车旅行指南》一书的作者吉姆·卢米斯解释道：“这一记录甚至比这些数字显示的还要糟糕，因为每列长途列车在被正式指定为晚点之前都有30分钟的宽限期。”
Why is Amtrak often so late?
为什么美铁经常晚点这么多？
It’s complicated. Amtrak does not have dedicated tracks outside of the Northeast and parts of Michigan and Indiana and uses the same rails as freight trains. But essential consumer protection rules are missing, too. And the sad fact that most Americans don’t care about trains isn’t making it any easier to fix the problem.
这很复杂。美铁在东北部、密歇根州和印第安纳州部分地区以外没有专用轨道，使用与货运列车相同的轨道。但基本的消费者保护规则也没有了。可悲的是，大多数美国人不关心火车，这并没有让解决问题变得更容易。
Joel Sutherland, a professor of supply chain management at the University of San Diego and a former CSX Railroad official, says America’s rail network is set up to favor freight trains. “Amtrak must share the rail lines with freight trains, and freight trains tend to get priority,” he says. “This is especially true west of the Mississippi where the rail infrastructure is lacking compared to the East Coast.”
圣地亚哥大学供应链管理教授、前CSX铁路公司官员乔尔·萨瑟兰表示，美国铁路网的建立是为了支持货运列车。他说：“美铁必须与货运列车共享铁路线，而货运列车往往会优先考虑。密西西比州西部尤其如此，与东海岸相比，那里的铁路基础设施匮乏。”
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. As a practical matter, the law is difficult to enforce. A proposed bill would allow Amtrak to begin directly enforcing the rules, but the law is stalled in Congress. Amtrak has also called for an investigation, which is now in progress, into how Union Pacific Railroad favors freight over people on the Sunset Limited. Union Pacific did not respond to questions about delays on the route.
美铁表示，等待货运列车是造成客运列车延误的最大原因。美国的铁路网将有利于货运列车，尽管根据法律，客运列车应该优先考虑。从实际情况来看，这项法律很难执行。一项拟议的法案将允许美铁开始直接执行这些规定，但该法案在国会陷入僵局。美铁还呼吁对联合太平洋铁路公司如何偏袒日落有限公司的货运而非乘客进行调查，目前正在进行中。联合太平洋铁路公司没有回答有关该航线延误的问题。
But the problem is bigger. American train passengers lack some basic consumer protections that might motivate rail carriers such as Amtrak to fix the problem faster.
但更大的问题是，美国火车乘客缺乏一些基本的消费者保护措施，这些措施可能会促使美铁等铁路运营商更快地解决这个问题。
Does Amtrak compensate you for delays?
美铁会赔偿你的延误吗？
Believe it or not, Amtrak doesn’t have to compensate delayed passengers. There is no federal law that requires even a partial refund if your train is late. (In Europe, you get a 25% refund of the ticket price if the delay is between one and two hours and a 50% refund if the delay is two hours or more under EU regulations). Amtrak’s customer service commitment does not promise compensation for delays, either.
信不信由你，美铁不必赔偿延误的乘客。没有联邦法律规定，如果你的火车晚点，哪怕只是部分退款。（在欧洲，根据欧盟规定，如果延误时间在一到两个小时之间，您可以获得25%的票价退款，如果延误两个小时或两个小时以上，则可以获得50%的退款）。美铁的客户服务承诺也没有承诺对延误进行赔偿。
As a practical matter, Amtrak sometimes offers compensation in the form of credits for future travel to passengers who experience a long delay. “We always encourage customers to let us know about their trips, what went well and what did not,” says Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari. “For the most part, we work with them individually on whether credit for future travel or a refund is appropriate.”
实际上，美铁有时会以积分的形式为经历长时间延误的乘客提供未来旅行的补偿。美铁发言人马克·马格利亚里表示：“我们一直鼓励客户让我们了解他们的行程，哪些行程顺利，哪些行程不顺利。在大多数情况下，我们会与他们单独沟通，决定未来旅行的信用积分或退款是否合适。”
Amtrak has been experimenting with automatically awarding Amtrak Guest Rewards points to customers on Acela trains based on the length of their delay. Amtrak would not give any specifics, since it’s still a pilot program. But Magliari says passengers are welcome to contact Amtrak and fill out a trip report, which could lead to policy changes or additional compensation.
美铁一直在试验根据乘客的延误时间自动向阿西乐特快列车上的乘客授予美铁乘客奖励积分。美铁不愿透露任何细节，因为这仍然是一个试点项目。但马格利亚里表示，欢迎乘客联系美铁并填写行程报告，这可能会导致政策变化或得到额外补偿。
Still, the fact that U.S. rail carriers don’t have to compensate their passengers for delays may give them less incentive to fix the delays.
尽管如此，美国铁路公司不必为延误向乘客赔偿，这一事实可能会减少他们解决延误的动力。
What will it take to fix the delayed trains?
要怎样才能解决火车延误的问题？
Rail experts say nothing less than a massive new investment in passenger rail infrastructure - new trains, high-speed tracks, generous government support - can fix this mess. But a little more involvement from passengers might help, too. What does it take to make you care about trains? A lot, apparently.
铁路专家表示，只有对客运铁路基础设施进行大规模的新投资——新列车、高速铁路、慷慨的政府支持——才能解决这一混乱局面。但乘客们多参与一点可能也会有所帮助。需要什么才能让你关心火车？很明显，很多。
The last Amtrak story to gain widespread national attention was the “train ride from hell” back in January. That’s when an Amtrak Auto Train from Washington, D.C., to Orlando, Fla., was delayed by almost 20 hours because of a freight derailment. Some passengers reportedly called 911 and claimed they were being held hostage on the train. The experience prompted an outcry from Congress, which demanded answers from Amtrak.
美铁上一个引起全国广泛关注的故事是一月份的“地狱火车之旅”。当时，一列从华盛顿特区开往佛罗里达州奥兰多的美铁汽车列车因货物脱轨而延误了近20个小时。据报道，一些乘客拨打了911，声称自己在火车上被扣为人质。这一经历引起了国会的强烈抗议，要求美铁做出回应。
But maybe we’re looking in the wrong place for the solution. Consider the other big rail story of the year, the opening of Brightline, a private rail service from Miami to Orlando. The high-speed train can make the trip between the two Florida cities in just under three hours. Brightline also plans a high-speed train between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in 2027 on new tracks without any freight trains.
但也许我们在错误的地方寻找解决方案。想想今年的另一个大铁路故事，从迈阿密到奥兰多的私人铁路服务Brightline的开通。这列高速列车可以在不到三个小时的时间内往返于佛罗里达州的两个城市。Brightline还计划在2027年在洛杉矶和拉斯维加斯之间的新轨道上开通一列高速列车，没有任何货运列车。
Brightline might be enough to make Americans fall in love with trains again. And here’s what I mean by love: I recently spent two months in Japan, which has one of the best rail networks in the world. Its shiny bullet train, called the shinkansen, is faster and more efficient than flying and often less expensive. Veteran tour guide Joe Okada, who at 94 is the oldest tour guide in Japan, says in the 1950s Japan dreamed of a transportation system that was better, faster, cheaper and safer. “Shinkansen made our dreams come true,” he says.
Brightline可能足以让美国人再次爱上火车。我所说的爱是这样的：我最近在日本呆了两个月，日本拥有世界上最好的铁路网之一。它闪亮的子弹头列车被称为新干线，比坐飞机更快、更高效，而且往往更便宜。资深导游乔·冈田现年94岁，是日本年龄最大的导游。他说，在20世纪50年代，日本梦想着一个更好、更快、更便宜、更安全的交通系统。“新干线让我们的梦想成真，”他说。
But there is also a sense of national pride in these superfast trains, which whisk you from Tokyo to Kyoto in about two hours, or five hours less than it takes you to drive. “Have you been on the shinkansen yet?” people asked me. And when I said yes, they gave me a knowing smile because the shinkansen is pretty spectacular.
但这些超高速列车也给人一种民族自豪感，从东京到京都只需大约两个小时，比开车少五个小时。“你坐过新干线吗？”人们问我。当我回答说坐过时，他们会会心一笑，因为新干线非常壮观。
No one says that about Amtrak, except maybe ironically. Amtrak is trying to reverse the trend with new overnight trains, station upgrades and improved meals. But it’s not enough. We could fix Amtrak by enforcing the law that gives it the right of way and strengthening consumer regulations - and by thinking bigger, when it comes to trains. “It’s past time to have a national conversation about rethinking, funding and fixing America’s rail infrastructure,” says Bill McGee, a senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project. “The delays will only worsen the longer we wait.”
没有人这样评价美铁，除了可能具有讽刺意味。美铁正试图通过新的通宵列车、车站升级和改善膳食来扭转这一趋势。但这还不够。我们可以通过执行赋予美铁通行权的法律和加强消费者监管来解决美铁的问题，并在火车方面考虑更大的问题。美国经济自由项目航空和旅游高级研究员比尔·麦基表示：“现在是就重新思考、资助和修复美国铁路基础设施进行全国性对话的时候了。我们等待的时间越长，火车延误只会加剧。”
【Source】www.seattletimes.com
【Translated by】Spark Liao (廖怀宝)
【Illustration】From Bing
