Narrative:

Our taxi clearance was; 'taxi to runway 30L; via Y; C; M; and hold short of 4 on C.' while on Y; ground control told us to 'keep your speed up to cross runway 4 on charlie. Company [aircraft] on a four-mile final.' I could not maintain or increase my speed because I still had two turns to make in order to cross runway 4 (from Y onto C and a slight jog crossing 4). The company on final looked close. I asked the first officer to confirm with ground control that we were definitely cleared to cross but he received no response. I was already slowing and; when no response was received; I opted to stop but could not do so in time and went past the hold short line 10 or 15 feet. We then saw a small prop on takeoff roll. The first officer told ground we were past the hold short line but; again; got no response from ground. I got on the radio and forcefully reiterated that we were past the hold short line. (Company was now on short final.) ground said; 'just hold where you are.' the other carrier continued its takeoff roll past us and the company was now on the go [around]. Ground then cleared us to cross runway 4 and taxi C; M; to runway 30L. Nothing else was said to us and our takeoff was uneventful. If you have what you believe to be a clearance; but it doesn't look right; stop; preferably; in time not to cross the hold short line. ATC needs a better choice of words. 'Keep your speed up to cross' is not a 'cleared to cross' but certainly can be construed as such given the circumstances.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An attempt by Ground Control to expedite operations resulted in the reporter's aircraft crossing the hold short line and stopping while another continued its takeoff despite the encroachment and a third on short final executed a go-around.

Narrative: Our taxi clearance was; 'Taxi to Runway 30L; via Y; C; M; and hold short of 4 on C.' While on Y; Ground Control told us to 'keep your speed up to cross Runway 4 on Charlie. Company [aircraft] on a four-mile final.' I could not maintain or increase my speed because I still had two turns to make in order to cross Runway 4 (from Y onto C and a slight jog crossing 4). The company on final looked close. I asked the First Officer to confirm with Ground Control that we were definitely cleared to cross but he received no response. I was already slowing and; when no response was received; I opted to stop but could not do so in time and went past the hold short line 10 or 15 feet. We then saw a small prop on takeoff roll. The First Officer told Ground we were past the hold short line but; again; got no response from Ground. I got on the radio and forcefully reiterated that we were past the hold short line. (Company was now on short final.) Ground said; 'Just hold where you are.' The other carrier continued its takeoff roll past us and the company was now on the go [around]. Ground then cleared us to cross Runway 4 and taxi C; M; to Runway 30L. Nothing else was said to us and our takeoff was uneventful. If you have what you believe to be a clearance; but it doesn't look right; stop; preferably; in time not to cross the hold short line. ATC needs a better choice of words. 'Keep your speed up to cross' is not a 'cleared to cross' but certainly can be construed as such given the circumstances.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.