How does Amtrak deal with time changes?

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: October 25, 2013

38 comments

I was talking to a friend yesterday, and somehow in the course of conversation Amtrak came up. I’m not sure how exactly that happened, but…

Anyway, my friend claimed that when the clock goes back an hour in November that Amtrak trains literally stop for an hour and wait for the time to “catch up.” Meanwhile in March when the clock goes forward an hour they just run an hour behind. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, so I called BS on it.

And then I pulled up Amtrak’s timetable:

Fall and spring time changes
Amtrak operates according to prevailing local time, either standard time or daylight saving time. At the spring time change (second Sunday in March), Amtrak trains traveling overnight will become one hour late and will attempt to make up the time. At the fall time change (first Sunday in November), Amtrak trains traveling overnight will normally hold at the next station after the time change then depart on time. Arizona does not observe daylight saving time. Please observe footnotes in schedules for trains serving Arizona to determine your departure or arrival time.

Oh, the joys of Amtrak. When the clock goes back an hour they literally just sit at a station, and when the clock goes forward an hour they just try to make up the time. After all, at Amtrak an hour late is basically considered an early arrival.

There’s even an interesting Chicago Tribune article about this from 1985:

R. Clifford Black, Amtrak`s manager of corporate communications in Washington, conceded that “it`s a rather confusing procedure unless you spend a lot of time pondering it, and not many people do.

…

Asked why Amtrak must brake for time when planes do not circle in the air for an hour, Black answered: “There aren`t that many planes flying at night. They can adjust their departure times, and they don`t make numerous intermediate stops like trains do.“

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Ron W Guest

November 2, 2019, 9:23 pm

Airplanes don't hold for an hour because aviation uses UTC time that doesn't have a "daylight savings time." Their schedules are unaffected regardless of local time zones or local time changes.

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Jan Guest

March 10, 2017, 2:14 pm

I have an Amtrak ticket to depart from a California town Saturday night (technically Sunday morning, March 12) at 1:47 a.m., and I couldn't get a straight answer from the Amtrak person I talked to about what time they change the clocks or whether I should go with standard time or daylight savings time. Can I assume they don't change until 2:00 a.m., meaning I should plan for a 1:47 a.m. standard time (whistle stop) boarding (knowing it might be late, but that's another story)?

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Jack Wu Guest

November 5, 2016, 11:30 pm

I am wondering if plan can do the same thing. When plans flight to USA from those countries that do not have DST, can they hold still in the sky for one hour than land on USA ? Exciting, I am gonna buy a ticket that fly to USA on that day.

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Bruce Alvarez Guest

March 4, 2014, 12:13 pm

They can't just speed up to "recover" that lost hour can they? Besides "on time" being Amtrak speak for at least a half hour late (as you said) they can't travel any faster on the rails than they are now. As for Fall, yep, if they keep to their current "timeliness" they might make it from Chicago to Albany on time if they just keep moving. If you think it is bizarre to wait at a station for an hour, it is the norm in Europe. Lots easier than having a separate time table for that one day. I discovered this 25 years ago traveling overnight from Salzburg, Austria to Zurich, Switzerland. I would wake up every time the train stopped at a station. When I saw the same station name twice, I figured I had just woken up quickly again. In the morning, looking out at the lovely scenery going by, and my watch, clearly it was going to be a rush to make my plane if I made it at all. Someone told me it was DST change and we had stayed at a station for an hour. Now mind you this was back before Europe changed their DST dates to match the US change dates. They, intelligently, didn't follow us again when GWB move the Spring date 2 weeks earlier and the Fall date 1 week later. Instead of Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time, we should start calling it "Standard Time" and "Daylight Wasting Time" since what is now "Standard" is only 1/3 of the year. Don't know how Europe handles the "spring forward" change though.

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Chris Guest

October 28, 2013, 7:59 pm

Let's not forget that except for in the Northeast, Amtrak operates almost exclusively as a guest on other companies' rails. We can probably thank UP, NS, and the rest of the Class Is for this policy (although one wonders if they stop their trains for an hour in March). I wonder if there's ever been an analysis of the effects of the DST switch on local commuter railroads' on-time performance. Hypothetically, there would be a ripple effect from Amtrak and the freight railroads that operate overnight on the same rails.

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