I feel like all America has to do is pass a law forcing the railroads to respect the passenger time tables, and even if it's Amtrak's fault that they missed a slot, yield to passenger traffic and enable them to run on-time.
If the trains had a reputation for not being overbooked, not being cancelled, and arriving at the time it says on the ticket, they could be a lot more popular.
I take Amtrak whenever possible because I hate the way people are treated in airports and I often meet others on the train that don't fly for one reason or another, but I am also enabled by a life that is unaffected if I arrive somewhere 12 hours late.
This is crazy. Freight trains in America do an important job. Long distance passenger trains in America serve eccentric hobbyists. The one is obviously more important than the other.
Public transit is fine. Lots of people get around cities or connected metropolitan regions on rail, and that's great. There are plenty of places in America where we could usefully build more rail. These tracks do not have problems of freight preemption, because they are not used for freight at all.
Outside perhaps of the northeast corridor, there is very little of America that is well suited for long distance trail travel, with distances being too long, with too little population between metro areas, and the terrain too rugged. There are nonetheless people who want to travel in trains for trains sake. That's fine, I don't begrudge then their hobbies. But freight is important, getting supplies around in time for logistics chains to work is a serious business, and we should not imperil it so that a few eccentrics can have slightly freer access to their hobby.
If the trains had a reputation for not being overbooked, not being cancelled, and arriving at the time it says on the ticket, they could be a lot more popular.
I take Amtrak whenever possible because I hate the way people are treated in airports and I often meet others on the train that don't fly for one reason or another, but I am also enabled by a life that is unaffected if I arrive somewhere 12 hours late.