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A comment on Amtrak no longer living hand to mouth after being funding-starved for decades. Parent comment

Re:Amtrak no longer living hand to mouth after being funding... by StableAlkyne on Thursday May 09, 2024 @03:02PM (#40311775)
A lot of it isn't the fault of Amtrak -- freight companies are legally required to pull off and let Amtrak through, unless the train size exceeds the length of the pull off

As a result, the freight companies just make the typical train longer than any pull off on the route, and they no longer have to yield to passenger rail. The downside is passenger rail becomes fantastically late because they always are the ones to pull off

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Re:Amtrak no longer living hand to mouth after being funding... by jimbobthrowawy on Thursday May 09, 2024 @04:27PM (#40312625)
I think longer trains have more to do with operational costs than not wanting to pull onto a siding. That's just a nice bonus for them. Really surprised this wasn't anticipated when they implemented those rules though.
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