The One Tiny Law That Keeps Amtrak Terrible
The One Tiny Law That Keeps Amtrak Terrible on HackerTube: recommended by 4 Hacker News commenters across 3 separate months, 2023–2025.
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.
What HN commenters said
8 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
andrewguentherSep 2025Recommends
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
in “Rail travel is booming in America” · View on HN
zuppyJan 2024Recommends
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.
in “Autonomous trucking is harder than autonomous rideshare” · View on HN
azefielFeb 2023Recommends
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
in “43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief” · View on HN
arthurfmFeb 2023Recommends
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.
in “Vinyl Chloride and the Ohio Train Derailment” · View on HN
cratermoonAug 2023Cites it
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
in “What if US had a train run parallel to every highway?” · View on HN
travisporterApr 2023Cites it
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
in “Tesla Master Plan Part 3” · View on HN
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katbyteJan 2023Cites it
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
in “” · View on HN
uoaeiJan 2023Cites it
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
in “Passenger Uses AirTags, Discovers Airline Donated Their Bags to Charity” · View on HN