The One Tiny Law That Keeps Amtrak Terrible
Wendover Productions4 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2023–2025
explainer · general · evergreen · 2023–2025 on HN
Wendover Productions explains why Amtrak trains run late: most Amtrak routes run on freight-owned track, and the law giving passenger trains priority is rarely enforced. The video covers rail ownership versus control and how freight carriers hold the leverage.
HN commenters cite it whenever passenger rail delays or expansion come up, as the clearest explanation of freight priority over Amtrak.
Up next
1 mo on HNProject "Iron Auntie" Success! Helping one of the last polio survivors in an iron lung.
Naomi Wu
1 HN recommend · 2020–2022
12 mo on HNHow Self-Driving Cars will Destroy Cities (and what to do about it)
Not Just Bikes
17 HN recommender · 2024–2026
11 mo on HNStroads are Ugly, Expensive, and Dangerous (and they're everywhere) [ST05]
Not Just Bikes
12 HN recommender · 2021–2025
10 mo on HNWhy This Channel Exists (and why I hate Houston)
Not Just Bikes
11 HN recommender · 2021–2025
10 mo on HNWhy American Cities Are Broke - The Growth Ponzi Scheme [ST03]
Not Just Bikes
14 HN recommender · 2021–2024
9 mo on HNThe Wrong Way to Set Speed Limits [ST06]
Not Just Bikes
9 HN recommender · 2021–2025
9 mo on HNCities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud
Not Just Bikes
10 HN recommender · 2021–2025
10 mo on HNWhy Canadians Can't Bike in the Winter (but Finnish people can)
Not Just Bikes
10 HN recommender · 2021–2026
9 mo on HNHow the Dutch got their cycle paths
BicycleDutch
9 HN recommender · 2013–2022
9 mo on HNWhy Japan Looks the Way it Does: Zoning
Life Where I'm From
8 HN recommender · 2021–2026
8 mo on HNThe Best Country in the World for Drivers
Not Just Bikes
9 HN recommender · 2021–2026
7 mo on HNWhy Grocery Shopping is Better in Amsterdam
Not Just Bikes
7 HN recommender · 2020–2025
8 comments from Hacker News
It's not an enforcement issue so much as it is a heavily exploited loophole. Part of the reason freight trains are so long is so that they can't fit in passing sidings. Since Amtrak does fit, they end up having to yield because the freight trains simply cannot. Could this be fixed by legislation on max train length to ensure all trains fit in sidings? Yes. Will that legislation get passed? No. An interesting video on the subject: ▶ this video
wendover did a good viedeo about that a while ago: ▶ this video the law says that passenger trains have priority, but nobody respects or enforces that.
While technically true, that law is never enforced, so in practice OP's statement is sadly correct. Wendover Productions made a great video [0] explaining this situation. [0]: ▶ this video
Wendover Productions posted an interesting train-related video recently. ▶ this video It would appear that the issues with Amtrak can be traced back to freight rail as well. See 07:46 onwards for more details.
We kind of do. It's just that the tracks are owned by freight companies BNSF, Union Pacific, CSX, or Norfolk Southern. Take a look at their system maps. BNSF: link UP: link CSX: link NS: link Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City fill in a few gaps in the US and extend the system to Canada and Mexico. Throw in Ferromex and that covers most of North America. We have the trackage, we need to find a way to put passenger rail on a better footing against freight carriers. See ▶ this video
I saw this video recently that claims that right of way from freight trains are the only thing stopping expanded Amtrak service between many big metros - eg. LA to Vegas. ▶ this video
Blame the fact freight generally overrules passenger: ▶ this video Amtrak isn’t allowed to be successful Either way rather be stuck on a train then a plane anyday
Amtrak is supposed to get first priority, but lines are still owned by freight companies who culled many passenger-heavy lines for "efficiency" and run extremely long trains that clog up traffic for hours, again for some spreadsheet-worthy target metric of "efficiency". Here's a video from Wendover Productions about the laws surrounding ownership vs control: ▶ this video