Norfolk Southern railroad has been causing chronic delays for Amtrak between New York and New Orleans by forcing the passenger trains to wait while its massive freight trains pass, the federal government said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The Justice Department took the rare step of filing a lawsuit because it says Norfolk Southern is consistently violating the federal law that requires Amtrak's trains to get priority when they cross a freight railroad's tracks. Amtrak relies on tracks owned by one of the six major freight railroads across most of the country.
“Americans should not experience travel delays because rail carriers break the law,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said.
Jim Mathews, the head of the Rail Passengers Association, said the Justice Department has only intervened one other time since the law was established in 1973 despite many complaints about delays caused by freight railroads. Mathews said the chronic problems on Norfolk Southern can't be explained by severe weather or supply chain disruptions or other operational excuses.
Norfolk Southern spokesman Tom Crosson said the railroad is committed to complying with the law requiring passenger trains to get priority and helping expand passenger rail.
“Over the past several months with Amtrak, we have focused on the on-time performance of the Crescent passenger train,” Crosson said. “We hope to resolve these concerns and continue to make progress together.”
Only 24% of Amtrak's southbound trains running on Norfolk Southern's network reached their destinations on time last year, forcing most of the 266,000 passengers traveling the Crescent Route between New York and New Orleans to deal with delays, according to the lawsuit.
In one instance, an Amtrak train just 10 miles outside New Orleans was delayed for nearly an hour because Norfolk Southern forced it to travel behind a slow-moving freight train. In another, the railroad's dispatchers made an Amtrak train wait for three freight trains to pass.
Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said this lawsuit will help ensure that passengers arrive at their destinations on time.
“We appreciate that the U.S. Department of Justice is taking steps to enforce in federal court the long-standing federal law requiring that intercity passenger trains receive preference over freight traffic when we operate over shared rail lines,” Gardner said in a statement.
Often, there is no way for an Amtrak train to pass one of Norfolk Southern's trains because the railroad is running longer and longer freight trains that won't fit on one of its sidings along the main line. All the major freight railroads now regularly run trains that stretch more than 2 miles long.
“For half a century, federal law has required freight rail companies to give Amtrak passenger rail service preference on their tracks — yet compliance with this important law has been uneven at best,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.
Norfolk Southern is one of the nation's biggest freight railroads based in Atlanta that operates trains all across the eastern United States.
FILE - Passengers board an Amtrak train heading to New Orleans from Atlanta on Nov. 23, 2016. The federal government sued Norfolk Southern railroad on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, over chronic delays for Amtrak between New York and New Orleans. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
U.S. Border Patrol agents who rushed to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022 failed to establish command and had inadequate training to confront what became one of the nation’s deadliest classroom attacks, according to a federal report released Thursday. But investigators concluded the agents did not violate rules and no disciplinary action was recommended.
The roughly 200-page report from the Department of Homeland Security does not assign overarching blame for the hesitant police response at Robb Elementary School, where a teenage gunman with an AR-style rifle killed 19 students and two teachers inside a fourth-grade classroom. Nearly 200 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers were involved in the response, more than any other law enforcement agency.
The gunman was inside the classroom for more than 70 minutes before a tactical team, led by Border Patrol, went inside and killed the shooter.
Much of the report — which the agency says was initiated to “provide transparency and accountability” — retells the chaos, confusion and numerous police missteps that other scathing government reports have already laid bare. Some victims' family members bristled over federal investigators identifying no one deserving of discipline.
“The failure of arriving law enforcement personnel to establish identifiable incident management or command and control protocols led to a disorganized response to the Robb Elementary School shooting,” the report stated. “No law enforcement official ever clearly established command at the school during the incident, leading to delays, inaction, and potentially further loss of life.”
Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that investigators “concluded none of the CBP personnel operating at the scene were found to have violated any rule, regulation, or law, and no CBP personnel were referred for disciplinary action."
Families of the victims have long sought accountability for the slow law enforcement response.
Jesse Rizo, whose niece Jacklyn Cazares was one of the students killed, said that while he hadn’t seen the report, he was briefed by family members and was disappointed to hear that it held no one accountable.
“We’ve expected certain outcomes after these investigations, and it’s been letdown after letdown,” said Rizo, a member of Uvalde's school board.
Federal officials said the report aimed to determine if agents complied with relevant rules and laws, and if anything could improve their performance in the future.
The report catalogs an array of breakdowns and paints a scene of disorder.
One Border Patrol agent said he couldn’t determine who was in command because there were so many agencies. Another agent told investigators he was working an overtime shift when he rushed to the school and was allegedly told by a state trooper, “The chief is in the room with the guy.” He said that led him to believe it was a standoff, so he began directing traffic.
Some Border Patrol agents drove more than 70 miles (113 kilometers) to the school, which is located near the U.S-Mexico border. One agent told investigators the scene looked “like a Hollywood movie with all the lights and chaos.” Another supervisor said he looked for a command post but no one knew where it was.
According to messages between agents in the Border Patrol's tactical unit, one agent wrote at 11:44 a.m., “Get everyone to Robb school in Uvalde. There’s a possble/shooting guy with AK/AR.” A minute later, an agent sends a message: “Barricaded subject is what their calling it.”
Among the findings in the report was that agents' active shooter training had not addressed dealing with a shooter behind a locked door or assessing medical needs.
Nearly 400 local, state and federal officers responded, including over 90 state police officials. Multiple federal and state investigations have laid bare cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned whether officers prioritized their own lives over those of children and teachers.
Two of the responding officers now face criminal charges. Former Uvalde school Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former school officer Adrian Gonzales have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of child abandonment and endangerment. Last week, Arredondo asked a judge to throw out the indictment. He has said he should not have been considered the incident commander and has been “scapegoated” into shouldering the blame for law enforcement failures that day.
Last month, the city released of a massive collection of audio and video recording from the day of the shooting, including 911 calls from students inside the classroom. On Wendesday, Uvalde police said an employee was put on paid leave after the department discovered additional video that has not yet been made public. The city has not said what the video shows.
Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas, and Stengle reported from Dallas. Associated Press reporters Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri; Juan A. Lozano in Houston; and Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.
FILE - Crosses are surrounded by flowers and other items at a memorial, June 9, 2022, for the victims of a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
