Larry Johnson asked if in the US, do passenger trains or freight trains have priority? Cody Grivno and Steve Sweeney have an answer.
Do passengers trains or freight trains have priority?
By Sammi DiVito | October 20, 2021
| Last updated on December 2, 2022
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It depends upon what the train dispatcher thinks he or she can get away with an if they can access the computer’s clock to compensate for any delays to psgr trains.
True Bruce, many of these beast UP freights can not fit in sidings, especially in some still single main situations between Estrella and Yuma. Also, with PSR, road trains are clogging up more mainline trackage as they are switching at places such as Tucson.
I was on the Sunset Route on an Amtrak train waiting in a siding as two freight trains went by.
I asked the Amtrak employee, “I thought passenger trains had priority?”
He replied they do, but freight trains won’t fit in a siding, so we have to wait for them to pass.