• horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Absolutely, Robber Barons have been a thing since the rails were laid. It’s a shit system and the main reason we don’t have highspeed rail.

    • aramis87@fedia.io
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      18 days ago

      I took Amtrak across the country once. The freight trains are supposed to give priority to the passenger trains so they leave and arrive (mostly) on time, but (outside the NEC) they mostly don’t bother and they’ve never been held to those requirements. Once again, prioritizing “stuff” over people.

      • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Oh it’s simpler than that. They just go around the requirement via loopholes in the agreements. They know they’re required to give priority, so they just make the freight trains too long to fit on the side track on those routes. So if there’s a conflict, the freight train physically cannot get out of the way and the passenger one has to.