Most of us know that Amtrak’s long-distance trains often run late . . . frequently very late. And most of us also know that more often than not those who should get the blame for all those late trains are the freight railroads, who habitually refuse to give Amtrak long-distance trains preference on track the…
Whoever said that must have been the inspiration for CSX and Norfolk Southern. The two freight railroads are bitterly opposing Amtrak’s efforts to run one—yes, that’s right—one round-trip passenger train a day between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. In lengthy written testimony presented to the Surface Transportation Board in Washington, lawyers for the two railroads…
Regulars here know that I rarely recommend making connections from one Amtrak train to another, especially if the connecting is from one long distance train to another. That’s not welcome advice for most travelers because Amtrak’s long-distance trains operate only once a day. And so the reality is that following that advice usually means adding…
Those of us working to improve and expand passenger rail in the U.S. complain about how the freight railroads have slowly reneged on the original agreement—that Amtrak would pay to run passenger trains over the freight railroads’ track and, in return, they would give preference to Amtrak trains. That was then; this is now. And Amtrak’s…