An interesting question came in by email the other day asking about “Quiet Zones” … that is, specific stretches of track, usually running through or adjacent to residential areas, where residents want relief from the blaring horns of locomotives hauling both freight and passenger trains. Under normal circumstances, engineers are required to sound the…
A week or so ago, I wrote about the argument brewing between the FRA—the Federal Railroad Administration—and the nation’s freight railroads. The issue has to do with when there must be two qualified engineers in a locomotive cab. The second engineer is there primarily as a safety factor—to spell the other engineer occasionally, to…
The fright railroads own the track over which most of Amtrak’s long-distance trains operate and if they had the choice, they would refuse to accommodate any passenger trains. The thing is, they don’t have a choice. Back around 1970, when the government permitted the privately-owned railroads to get out of the passenger business, they agreed…