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> Fun fact: by law, Amtrak has priority. Not that it matters much, even back when laws themselves mattered. Are you sure about that? I've never looked up the
by JadeNB 1y ago
> Fun fact: by law, Amtrak has priority. Not that it matters much, even back when laws themselves mattered.
Are you sure about that? I've never looked up the law, but my understanding is that, for most (all?) of its routes, Amtrak is running on privately owned track, and, on such track, freight has priority.
(I'm surprised at the number of downvotes. The replies indicated that I'm wrong, which is awesome in the sense that I like riding Amtrak and want it to have priority, and so I understand the frustration; but I think that I cannot be the only one who has heard from every Amtrak rider they've talked to that freight has priority, and surely it's a good thing to seek an authoritative answer? Maybe it looked like I was rhetorically saying that someone was wrong rather than honestly seeking clarification.)
- MBCook 1y agoYep. Federal law requires passenger trains to get priority. But for some reason the government basically stopped enforcing it like 40 years ago. So in practice it tends to work the other way.
- strken 1y agoI've been told that there's a legal loophole where freight trains are built to be too large to fit into overtaking loops, and so don't need to use them.
- cogman10 1y agoYes [1]. [1] https://www.planetizen.com/news/2025/09/135986-amtrak-trains-get-priority-over-freight-legal-settlement https://www.planetizen.com/news/2025/09/135986-amtrak-trains...
- crockeo 1y agoMy understanding is that as part of the Amtrak Improvement Act[1] Amtrak is given preference over freight rail, even on private track. However only the Department of Justice may enforce this, which it has done only once. Fair warning I haven't read the text of the law in full, only heard this second hand. https://www.congress.gov/bill/93rd-congress/house-bill/15427 https://www.congress.gov/bill/93rd-congress/house-bill/15427
- blendergeek 1y agoDue to the history of Amtrak this is actually true. The railroads in America (while privately owned and operated) were built with much government subsidy. The railroad companies originally provided passenger service. Eventually, to ensure this service continued a law was passed that prohibited railroads from dropping passe nger service. After the rise of personal cars coinciding with the massive federal investment in car infrastructure in the 1950s with the interstate hughway system, passenger rail travel was in free fall in the late 60s and the railroad companies begged to be allowed to end passenger service. Congress stepped in and nationalized the passenger service exempting the railroad companies from their mandate to provide passenger service while requiring them to give passenger trains priority in scheduling. So, TL;DR passenger trains have legally mandated priority over the freight trains of the host railroad.