Freight and Passenger Rail: Friends or Foes?

This article examines the relationship between freight and passenger rail, as both segments of the rail industry are expected to grow substantially in coming years. Advocates of passenger rail look at existing freight railways as the first choice for expanding capacity, but freight operators point out that reducing the ability to move freight by rail will cause greater congestion on roadways. The author describes in detail the relationship between Amtrak and CSX, which share tracks, mostly in the Northeast corridor, and what has and hasn’t worked. The current interest in high-speed rail has led CSX to suggest that newer, proposed high-speed trains will need either temporal or physical separation from freight trains. Liability issues and positive train control are also addressed.