"Federal law requires that freight companies give Amtrak trains priority over freight"


homersimpsonlikestrains

homersimpsonlikestrains

Active Member
I was watching this documentary on YouTube and at the 27 minute mark it says that "Federal law requires that freight companies give Amtrak trains priority over freight". But the Department of Justice has not enforced this law since 1979. Why is this happening? And will the Department of Justice eventually enforce this law in the future?

 
It took me over 16 hours to travel on the Coast Starlight from the SF Bay Area to Los Angeles. Driving that same distance only takes around 7 hours.

It seems the average speed of long distance Amtrak trains is 45 mph.
 
homersimpsonlikestrains said:
It took me over 16 hours to travel on the Coast Starlight from the SF Bay Area to Los Angeles. Driving that same distance only takes around 7 hours.

It seems the average speed of long distance Amtrak trains is 45 mph.
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None of it makes any sense to me.

When my wife was frequently traveling back and forth to Budapest to visit her mother and sister it was cheaper to drive to JFK from Baltimore to drop her off than a one-way ticket on Amtrak. Not including the cost of the commute to JKF from Penn Station. The drive included the fuel and tolls back and forth from Baltimore to JFK. I still can't figure that out.

On average the train from Baltimore to New York takes about 2.5 hours. The closest stop to JFK is Penn Station in Manhattan, about thirty-five miles away. Thirty-five miles from Manhattan to anywhere is always a roll of the dice.

She could have taken connecting flights from Baltimore, but connecting flights add time and stress. JFK had direct flights to Budapest. We always left early to be sure we didn't miss her flight.

It gave me an excuse to spend the three hours the drive (on average) took with her.

We took our "road dog" Bessy along with us, Bessy loved it, and we did too!
 
I cannot answer your general questions, but it seems that around here BNSF has a good relationship with Amtrak's Heartland Flyer. It is a short route from Oklahoma City to Ft Worth and back however. It travels on BNSF track all of the way and has an on-time rate well above 80%. It makes the 200 mile trip in just under four hours with 5 or 6 stops along the way. By car, it takes about 3 hours. The Texas Eagle and The Sunset Limited though, do not have as good a record but generally move through Texas in a timely fashion. They both go through San Antonio.
 
Bruette said:
I don't have the answers, only another question. Why does the federal government treat all railroads like "rented mules" and the airlines like the "golden child"
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Louis-That too is a great question! How many bailouts have they had to have over the last couple of decades!
 
My take on it is the federal government pays for trackage rights to the class one railroads.
Freight traffic causes delays for passenger service, which drive up costs to the consumer.
The law was passed way back when to ensure no matter what, Amtrak is protected.
I'd imagine if the class one carriers can't keep things rolling smoothly, someone in Washington will drop the D.O.J. hammer.
Airlines are the preferred method of travel for the masses and that's why they get treated better than the railroads.
 
I would have thought that freight trains would be "preferred" over passenger trains simply because freight is the $ earner, not the passenger train, also I would think plane travel being considerably faster, and I could be wrong, cheaper, on the longer distance than using a train.
 
Smudge617 said:
I would have thought that freight trains would be "preferred" over passenger trains simply because freight is the $ earner, not the passenger train, also I would think plane travel being considerably faster, and I could be wrong, cheaper, on the longer distance than using a train.
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Some people will just not choose to fly (period). No amount of counseling them, sedation, statistics or anything else will change their minds. The train or bus is their only option if they don't want to drive.
 
homersimpsonlikestrains said:
I was watching this documentary on YouTube and at the 27 minute mark it says that "Federal law requires that freight companies give Amtrak trains priority over freight". But the Department of Justice has not enforced this law since 1979. Why is this happening? And will the Department of Justice eventually enforce this law in the future?

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I am thinking it takes a lot more to get a freight train moving than your passenger train. Maybe if they added a dedicated track here for passenger service only. Probably cost several hundred billion, but much less than the high speed rail they are proposing in some locations (the elevated lines).

Sounds like a good option for more rural areas where the existing Right-of-way could be utilized. I am specifically thinking of Empire builder from St. Paul west.
 
logandsawman said:
I am thinking it takes a lot more to get a freight train moving than your passenger train. Maybe if they added a dedicated track here for passenger service only. Probably cost several hundred billion, but much less than the high speed rail they are proposing in some locations (the elevated lines).

Sounds like a good option for more rural areas where the existing Right-of-way could be utilized. I am specifically thinking of Empire builder from St. Paul west.
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Ya, the EB is pretty much over 50% full either direction; sometimes you can not get a seat.

On the upside, BNSF has been double tracking starting @ Wenatchee and has made it East to Sandpoint with parts still single track. West Spokane curved bridge over Latah Creek ( actual wye in the middle of that bridge ), East of Irvin ( Pines road Spo Valley ) over Spokane River - have seen new construction and suspect that a 2nd bridge is forth coming. I have not chased West of Spokane for quite awhile, so I can't tell ya what is there or missing. Spokane South to Pasco has long segments of 2MT, then only through the tunnels on the river are 1MT. The EB splits and joines at Spokane, 1/2 to/from Portland, 1/2 to/from Everett/Seattle.

Used to be the all that was run over Stampeede Pass was oil and grain. No double-stacks as the bore would have to be cleaned up height wise; something like they did with the Cascade Tunnel in the 90's. I guess they could run 'selected' merchandise with height restrictions.

From Sandpoint still single track with sidings but working on the RoW to widen for 2MT on the hi-line. xNP, xMRL to Missoula probaby won't see any passenger service although it kinda gets in the news every few years or so. Hi-line has problems with the Kootenai Canyon and of course the Flathead Tunnel.

All of that *should* help keep the lines clear. Seeing 40 trains a day through Libby. Used to be 50 - and a ton of 'riding the yellows' going on. Most of the dead time is daylight hours.
 
ctclibby said:
Ya, the EB is pretty much over 50% full either direction; sometimes you can not get a seat.

On the upside, BNSF has been double tracking starting @ Wenatchee and has made it East to Sandpoint with parts still single track. West Spokane curved bridge over Latah Creek ( actual wye in the middle of that bridge ), East of Irvin ( Pines road Spo Valley ) over Spokane River - have seen new construction and suspect that a 2nd bridge is forth coming. I have not chased West of Spokane for quite awhile, so I can't tell ya what is there or missing. Spokane South to Pasco has long segments of 2MT, then only through the tunnels on the river are 1MT. The EB splits and joines at Spokane, 1/2 to/from Portland, 1/2 to/from Everett/Seattle.

Used to be the all that was run over Stampeede Pass was oil and grain. No double-stacks as the bore would have to be cleaned up height wise; something like they did with the Cascade Tunnel in the 90's. I guess they could run 'selected' merchandise with height restrictions.

From Sandpoint still single track with sidings but working on the RoW to widen for 2MT on the hi-line. xNP, xMRL to Missoula probaby won't see any passenger service although it kinda gets in the news every few years or so. Hi-line has problems with the Kootenai Canyon and of course the Flathead Tunnel.

All of that *should* help keep the lines clear. Seeing 40 trains a day through Libby. Used to be 50 - and a ton of 'riding the yellows' going on. Most of the dead time is daylight hours.
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I would take Amtrack to Glacier every year if I could depend on the timetable at least a little. One trip from Williston to St. Paul took an additional 11 hours due to heavy freight traffic. That was the height of the oil boom, but really 11 hours late?

We have pretty heavy freight traffic on BNSF that runs through our town (Sandstone, MN). Their business Minneapolis to the Superior/Duluth ports must be steady and seems to have picked up in the last couple years.
 
A lot depends on what you mean by "priority". Does it mean "thou shalt not receive any delay" or does it mean "thou shalt receive the least delay"?

Part of the problem is relative speed. With freight trains you mostly have to worry about opposing trains. The railroad only needs sidings to meet opposing trains. Passenger trains are faster than freights, that means they overtake trains in the SAME direction. With passenger trains you need meeting and PASSING points, there are more freights to clear. Since the number of sidings doesn't magically increase that means that when AMTK passes a train in the same direction it can create a 2 on one meet with opposing trains at another siding.

AMTK can create a footprint 50-100 miles ahead of it. We would often be putting freights in sidings when AMTK was 50-100 miles away.

Back to priority. If AMTK get 1 hours delay and 15 freights get an average 1.5 hours of delay, which railroad was delayed more, AMTK or the freight railroad?
 
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