Railroads in the United States: Considerations & Development Prospects

Pressure is building for greater passenger use of freight rail-road rights of way. Freight rail-road rights of way are owned by private, for-profit corporations, and the routes potentially most useful for passenger service are typically the busiest with freight traffic. In many cases, states or commuter rail authorities have reached agreement with freight rail-roads to share either their track or right of way. However, unlike Amtrak, which has eminent domain power over freight facilities and can appeal to a federal agency to determine the terms of its access to freight track, other would-be passenger rail operators do not have any statutory leverage when negotiating with freight rail-roads. This likely increases the price public authorities pay for access and leaves them with no apparent recourse when freight rail-roads reject their offers.