Last year’s catastrophic East Palestine train derailment has spurred calls from a rank-and-file labor group for public ownership of rail infrastructure. We spoke to an expert about what that could look like in the US, which is dominated by for-profit rail.
I really hope this happens. In addition to the safety improvements, it could mean the Amtrak becomes viable for long distance travel. My trip from Denver to Seattle was scheduled for 3 days but ended up taking 5. Some of it was caused by snow on the tracks, but the majority of the delays were from the BNSF and UP trains forcing the passenger trains to stop until they passed. Amtrak doesn’t own the rails so they don’t get priority. Just from Sacramento to Seattle there were two to three stops of 1-2 hours each.
It’s a shame too because the views in some areas were incredible and everything else about traveling by train is a much better experience than flying.