TRUTH IN TIMETABLING.

Craig "Amtrak in the Heartland" Sanders notes that Amtrak once apologized for its unreliable trains.

He notes,

Shown is a schedule for Amtrak’s Broadway Limited from the mid 1970s. Penn Central was still the host railroad and its tracks west of Pittsburgh were not in great condition.

Therefore Amtrak placed a notice that the schedules were slower than PC was required to provide but faster scheduled were not possible at this this time.

Left unsaid was that PC was in bankruptcy proceedings and couldn’t afford to fix its tracks.

I remember, the fall after the Conrail takeover, reeling off mile after mile across Ohio and Indiana at track speed.  The conductors were even OK with some Dutch-door riding.

Note, though, the circuitous routing of the Washington section by way of Philadelphia.  Once upon a time, The Pennsylvania Railroad would send the through trains southeast from Harrisburg, by way of either the Northern Central with a reversal at Baltimore, or along the Atglen and Susquehanna.  That ultimately led to the restoration of the Capitol Limited, first as a rerouted Washington section of the Broadway via Cumberland, later as its own train and the Broadway being replaced by a (not-guaranteed) connection to the coach train at Pittsburgh.

Those fast tracks across Ohio and Indiana?  Conrail decided they could do without them, another reason for the Broadway to go away ... and a Capitol Limited serving Cleveland??  One track is still there, though, sometimes hosting big intermodal trains, and perhaps they're the fastest way to Columbus.

These days, though, Amtrak deals with perpetually late trains by lengthening the schedules.