5 ms·

I believe the reason is because freight gets higher priority on the rails than travelers in the U.S.

reaperducer 8y ago
Yes, and no. To the railroads it gets higher priority. But if a freight train bocks a passenger train the railroad gets fined by the hour (quarter hour?). However, the freight railroads often just eat the fine as a cost of doing business. Like delivery companies do with parking tickets.
- plopz 8y ago
  Fined by who? Aren't all the railways privately owned and just licensed by Amtrak?
  - Aloha 8y ago
    Amtrak doesn't even license it - Amtrak is actually owned mostly by the freight railroads.
    - vonmoltke 8y ago
      The National Passenger Rail Corporation is a federally chartered corporation whose controlling interest is owned by the US federal government.
      - nerfhammer 8y ago
        Yup. It's the rails underneath it that are mostly owned by freight or other rail companies.
  - vonmoltke 8y ago
    The law that created Amtrak provided for it to operate on tracks owned by freight companies, with usage fees, under the condition that passenger trains get higher priority than freight trains. Part of that condition is fines, payable from the freight company to Amtrak, for Amtrak train delays caused by the freight company. Unfortunately, for various political reasons that part of the law has almost no teeth so freight companies openly flout it or treat the meager fines as the cost of doing business. It's a big part of the reason that passenger rail sucks in the US.
- tomatotomato37 8y ago
  Apparently this was contested a couple years ago in the courts: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/04/29/getting-there-on-time-who-goes-first-amtrak-or-a-freight-train-a-court-rules/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.70811e0097fa https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/04/29/...
organsnyder 8y ago
Amtrak has a Twitter account that tweets out delays, including the reasons for them. It's almost always due to freight traffic: https://twitter.com/amtrakalerts https://twitter.com/amtrakalerts Apparently the freight haulers have tried to get them to stop publicly blaming them like this.

Yes, and no. To the railroads it gets higher priority. But if a freight train bocks a passenger train the railroad gets fined by the hour (quarter hour?). However, the freight railroads often just eat the fine as a cost of doing business. Like delivery companies do with parking tickets.

plopz 8y ago
Fined by who? Aren't all the railways privately owned and just licensed by Amtrak?
- Aloha 8y ago
  Amtrak doesn't even license it - Amtrak is actually owned mostly by the freight railroads.
  - vonmoltke 8y ago
    The National Passenger Rail Corporation is a federally chartered corporation whose controlling interest is owned by the US federal government.
    - nerfhammer 8y ago
      Yup. It's the rails underneath it that are mostly owned by freight or other rail companies.
- vonmoltke 8y ago
  The law that created Amtrak provided for it to operate on tracks owned by freight companies, with usage fees, under the condition that passenger trains get higher priority than freight trains. Part of that condition is fines, payable from the freight company to Amtrak, for Amtrak train delays caused by the freight company. Unfortunately, for various political reasons that part of the law has almost no teeth so freight companies openly flout it or treat the meager fines as the cost of doing business. It's a big part of the reason that passenger rail sucks in the US.
tomatotomato37 8y ago
Apparently this was contested a couple years ago in the courts: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/04/29/getting-there-on-time-who-goes-first-amtrak-or-a-freight-train-a-court-rules/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.70811e0097fa https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/04/29/...

organsnyder 8y ago

Amtrak has a Twitter account that tweets out delays, including the reasons for them. It's almost always due to freight traffic: https://twitter.com/amtrakalerts https://twitter.com/amtrakalerts Apparently the freight haulers have tried to get them to stop publicly blaming them like this.