PASSENGER TRAINS ON FREIGHT RAILROADS: A VIEW FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE TRACK

One of the ways transportation planners are attempting to accelerate efforts to solve urban highway congestion is to provide to commuter rail access to freight railroad track. This article presents a view from both freight and passenger operations sides. It first provides a historical transition from a highly regulated, passenger, commuter and freight industry to one that is compartmentalized by function and ownership. Then presented are CSXT rail-passenger corridor models that include: New York's Empire Corridor; Richmond, VA-Washington, D.C. Corridor; MBTA Boston; and Tri-Rail (West Palm Beach-Miami Corridor). CSXT dispatched all trains over those corridors and performs single maintenance. Also operated by CSXT are freight trains over segments of the corridors while Amtrak trains use the same corridors. Conclusions and lessons learned are also provided.