Amtrak Takes Metro-North to Federal Court Over Halted Train Operations

Amtrak sues Metro-North Railroad in federal court. It accuses the MTA commuter operator of blocking access on Metro-North territory. Amtrak says that access is needed for NextGen Acela testing and other non-revenue Amtrak moves. This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

The case was filed on Wednesday, April 22. It is in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Amtrak is seeking an injunction. It would allow the railroad to keep operating non-revenue trains over Metro-North routes. Also, the dispute would go to arbitration. According to the filing, arbitration is required under the contracts. Those contracts govern Amtrak’s use of Metro-North’s New Haven and Hudson lines.

In a statement, Amtrak said Metro-North’s actions “are violating agreements we’ve had in place for more than 35 years, causing escalating harm to Amtrak’s operations, undermining safety-critical rail activity, disrupting service needed by millions of passengers, and putting the reliability of intercity rail service at risk.”

Amtrak sues Metro-North over blocked non-revenue moves

Amtrak says Metro-North began “systematically denying” requests for non-revenue moves on both routes as of March 18. In the filing, those moves are tied to three areas. They are NextGen Acela testing, required inspections and equipment positioning for maintenance.

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The railroad says the denials are affecting NextGen Acela trains. They are also preventing its track geometry car from performing required Federal Railroad Administration inspections. In addition, Amtrak says it has been unable to reposition equipment for inspection and maintenance. The filing says they have “already caused Amtrak to cancel and delay revenue service trains.” The suit says at least eight requests have been denied.

Meanwhile, the dispute stems from a NextGen Acela pantograph incident. Metro-North says the pantograph damaged its catenary system. Amtrak’s filing says that “Whatever the merits of that separate dispute,” the contracts between the two entities do not allow Metro-North to block Amtrak operations “as leverage in a negotiation over a separate matter.”

MTA points to the Penn Access project

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority framed the lawsuit as a distraction from Amtrak’s failure to provide construction access. The statement, reported by amNY.com, concerned the MTA’s Penn Access project. That project will use Amtrak’s Hell Gate line for new Bronx commuter service. It will also give New Haven Line riders an option to travel to Penn Station as well as Grand Central Terminal.

“It’s not clear who in the federal government is directing Amtrak’s lawyers to create distractions from the real issue — getting Bronxites the service they deserve,” said John J. McCarthy, the MTA’s chief of external relations.

The MTA statement reported by amNY.com did not address Amtrak’s claims regarding pantograph damage.

NextGen Acela pantograph issues date to 2021

Separately, a second Amtrak filing describes the history of the NextGen Acela pantograph problems. It says the New Haven Line issues date back to August 2021. At that time, a train’s pantograph was damaged on a bridge in Westport, Connecticut. The incident led to an effort to redesign the pantograph.

On Jan. 20, 2026, that redesign work was still in progress. The pantograph on an in-service NextGen trainset was damaged at the bridge. It then damaged the catenary system.

The same filing describes one denial. Metro-North told Amtrak it could not allow non-revenue moves without an agreement. In another case, Metro-North cited “potential conflicts with ongoing infrastructure improvements.” Still, Amtrak says such denials had previously been rare. It says Metro-North had usually provided specific explanations when rejecting a request.

Amtrak argues that court intervention is warranted because the “irreparable reputational and operational harms Amtrak faces in the absence of an injunction far outweigh any hardship to Metro-North of preserving the status quo.”

Earlier friction between Amtrak and the MTA

The lawsuit comes during a rocky period in the Amtrak-MTA relationship. Last year, MTA CEO Janno Lieber criticized Amtrak. He described a lack of cooperation. He said it had put the Penn Access project behind schedule. Amtrak disputed those claims.

Also, Lieber said Amtrak was afraid of competition. His comment followed the end of a Metro-North proposal. The proposal involved service between New York and Albany, New York.

That claim was criticized by an official from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. The official said the MTA proposal ignored “statutory authority and mandatory labor protections.”

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