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Interesting! Your link suggests that legally passenger trains are supposed to have priority, but that in practice freight trains are given priority. I didn't

Interesting! Your link suggests that legally passenger trains are supposed to have priority, but that in practice freight trains are given priority. I didn't know this, and it makes me even madder! But as far as an explanation for why Amtrak trains are so often delayed (which is how it appeared in OP?), it appears to be correct that it's because freight trains are given priority. It's just that... they're not supposed to be, right? At least according to Amtrak? I wonder if anyone has a third-party analysis of what's going on? I'm surprised I've never heard this before, thank you for bringing it up. > The leading cause of delay to Amtrak passengers is “freight train interference”... > ...Myth: “Amtrak already has the highest priority of all trains on freight rail lines.” > Truth: Freight trains represent the largest cause of delay to passengers.

adgjlsfhk1 4y ago
The TLDR is that most of the US is single tracked and the freight trains are bigger than the passenger train has to wait even if it has priority because the freight train is too big to wait.
- bobthepanda 4y ago
  Also, because Wall Street is so obsessed with making the balance sheets as efficient as possible, they have pretty much no interest in capital improvements like longer sidings or additional tracks.
  - adgjlsfhk1 4y ago
    It's worse than that. They have a specific interest in not having longer sidings. The companies that own the tracks own the freight trains, so longer sidings would be worse since then their trains would have to yield.
noahtallen 4y ago
There is something called "Precision Scheduled Railroading" (PSR) which ultimately means that freight trains are longer than they used to be. (https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105420 https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105420) The result is that these long trains (even 3 miles long) can't fit on sidings, which means that they can't practically give way to, say, Amtrak, when there's only a single track. (Which is a lot of routes!) In other words, freight rail has optimized very hard on saving costs, and since they own the tracks, there's not much Amtrak can do to win. I think the only real solution is dedicated, grade-separated tracks for passenger trains (ideally high speed), but that's unfortunately a pipe dream :(
- hannasanarion 4y ago
  The real solution is to eliminate private ownership of track. Corporate-owned track makes as much sense as corporate-owned highways, ie none. The rails should belong to the people, and companies allowed to use them as the government allows, not the other way around.
  - antognini 4y ago
    Britain seems to have a better system than the US. In the US the rails are privately owned, but the train service is operated by the government. In Britain the rails are owned by the state but the operators are private. That seems to make for a better experience.
    - secabeen 4y ago
      Britain has gone through regular and repeated crises with their trains, and pretty much the entire system went bankrupt during COVID. The government paid what it took to keep it going, but it's not a smooth system by any means. Even during what people would consider the heyday of British Rail, it still required significant and ongoing government subsidies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_Great_Britain_1995_to_date https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_G... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_Great_Britain_1948%E2%80%931994 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_G...
      - midasuni 4y ago
        As does the road network. And schools. Goverent services require subsidies, they aren’t run for profit. And the subsidies given the the rail which were needed because of the governemt laws about not travelling were far lower than US subsidies.
    - ggm 4y ago
      Better only in narrow relative terms. The privatised trains are a disaster of Tory politics and renationalisation is a vote winning proposal. The lines which gave most problems have been resumed by the state in some cases. I miss BR. Bit of a shame it was Jimmy Saville voicing "this is the age of the train" Rail demands subsidy. Public utility functions often do.
bobthepanda 4y ago
The problem is that the DoJ is the one with the power to enforce said regulations, and DoJ is about as interested as a patrol officer being asked to do parking enforcement. There have been bills to allow Amtrak to file civil suits but as far as I know they haven’t passed.

adgjlsfhk1 4y ago

The TLDR is that most of the US is single tracked and the freight trains are bigger than the passenger train has to wait even if it has priority because the freight train is too big to wait.

bobthepanda 4y ago
Also, because Wall Street is so obsessed with making the balance sheets as efficient as possible, they have pretty much no interest in capital improvements like longer sidings or additional tracks.
- adgjlsfhk1 4y ago
  It's worse than that. They have a specific interest in not having longer sidings. The companies that own the tracks own the freight trains, so longer sidings would be worse since then their trains would have to yield.

noahtallen 4y ago

There is something called "Precision Scheduled Railroading" (PSR) which ultimately means that freight trains are longer than they used to be. (https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105420 https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105420) The result is that these long trains (even 3 miles long) can't fit on sidings, which means that they can't practically give way to, say, Amtrak, when there's only a single track. (Which is a lot of routes!) In other words, freight rail has optimized very hard on saving costs, and since they own the tracks, there's not much Amtrak can do to win. I think the only real solution is dedicated, grade-separated tracks for passenger trains (ideally high speed), but that's unfortunately a pipe dream :(

hannasanarion 4y ago
The real solution is to eliminate private ownership of track. Corporate-owned track makes as much sense as corporate-owned highways, ie none. The rails should belong to the people, and companies allowed to use them as the government allows, not the other way around.
- antognini 4y ago
  Britain seems to have a better system than the US. In the US the rails are privately owned, but the train service is operated by the government. In Britain the rails are owned by the state but the operators are private. That seems to make for a better experience.
  - secabeen 4y ago
    Britain has gone through regular and repeated crises with their trains, and pretty much the entire system went bankrupt during COVID. The government paid what it took to keep it going, but it's not a smooth system by any means. Even during what people would consider the heyday of British Rail, it still required significant and ongoing government subsidies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_Great_Britain_1995_to_date https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_G... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_Great_Britain_1948%E2%80%931994 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_G...
    - midasuni 4y ago
      As does the road network. And schools. Goverent services require subsidies, they aren’t run for profit. And the subsidies given the the rail which were needed because of the governemt laws about not travelling were far lower than US subsidies.
  - ggm 4y ago
    Better only in narrow relative terms. The privatised trains are a disaster of Tory politics and renationalisation is a vote winning proposal. The lines which gave most problems have been resumed by the state in some cases. I miss BR. Bit of a shame it was Jimmy Saville voicing "this is the age of the train" Rail demands subsidy. Public utility functions often do.

bobthepanda 4y ago

The problem is that the DoJ is the one with the power to enforce said regulations, and DoJ is about as interested as a patrol officer being asked to do parking enforcement. There have been bills to allow Amtrak to file civil suits but as far as I know they haven’t passed.