Prior to Amtrak’s creation by the Rail Passenger
Service Act of 1970, intercity passenger rail
service in the United States was provided by the
same companies that provided freight service.
When Amtrak was formed, in return for government
permission to exit the passenger rail business
(and avoid the hundred of millions of dollars
in annual losses from passenger operations they
were forced to incur), freight railroads donated
passenger equipment to Amtrak and helped it to
get started with a capital infusion of some $200
million. Today, Amtrak is the sole intercity U.S.
passenger rail carrier in the continental United
States.
Most of the 22,000 miles over which Amtrak operates
are actually owned by the freight railroads. Amtrak
owns approximately 750 miles of railroad, primarily
from Boston to Washington, D.C. By law, freight
railroads must grant Amtrak access to their track
upon request and give priority status to Amtrak
trains over customers. Amtrak pays fees to freight
railroads to cover the incremental costs of Amtrak’s
use of the tracks.
Commuter and light rail passenger service is
offered in many cities throughout the United States.
Many commuter rail operators own all or part of
the railroad right-of-way (sometimes purchased
from freight railroads) on which they operate.
Other commuter and light rail systems operate
primarily or exclusively over tracks owned by
freight railroads. To avoid the time and expense
of new rights-of-way acquisition, most proposed
new commuter operations and existing commuter
passenger operators that want to extend their
operations typically advocate using freight railroad
rights-of-way.
Before non-Amtrak passenger rail operators can
begin operations on freight-owned track, they
must first reach agreement, through arms-length
negotiations, on a wide variety of engineering,
operational, and legal issues, such as liability,
hours of passenger operations, access fees, number
of passenger trains, etc. Freight railroads recognize
the potential public benefits of passenger service
and work to accommodate passenger trains when
mutually beneficial arrangements can be negotiated.
However, passenger service must not degrade freight
railroads’ ability to serve their freight
customers. The goal of reducing pollution and
highway congestion by expanding rail passenger
service will not be realized if passenger trains
interfere with freight service and force freight
onto highways.
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