Rail transportation in the USA
Barry Hiscox FCInstCES
RAIL transportation in the USA consists primarily of freight shipments along an integrated network of standard gauge1 private railroads, extending into Canada and Mexico.
At about 160,000 miles (260,000km), the USA has the longest rail transport network of any country in the world. Commuter rail for passengers is a mass transit option in most US cities, particularly in the east, although this shrank in the 20th century as commercial traffic and the interstate highway system made travel a more practical option for commuters.
Because of the decline in rail traffic after the Second World War, when several rail companies went bankrupt, the federal government created Amtrak to nationally take over the responsibility for inter-city passenger travel. With the most notable bankruptcy of the Penn Central Transportation Company in 1971 (at the time, the largest bankruptcy in the nation’s history), the federal government again intervened in 1976, forming Conrail in the Northeast.
By 2014, the major rail operators in the USA were Amtrak, BNSF Railway, Canadian National Railway, CPKC Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad with a total ridership of 549,631,632, including 29 million for Amtrak alone in 2014. In 2014 passenger kilometres amounted to 10.3 billion and freight, 1.71 trillion tonne/miles.
Freight had always taken precedence over passengers on the many single-track railroads and in such cases passenger service was as spartan and expensive as the market and ICC regulation could bear. However, on routes where two or three railroads were in direct competition with each other, no expense was spared in making passenger trains as fast, luxurious and affordable as possible.
The National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) was formed in 1967 for the continuation of passenger trains but its efforts were hampered by the historically entrenched two party system, namely:
1. Democratic opposition to any sort of rail subsidies to privately owned railroads.
2. Republican opposition to nationalisation of the railroad industry. On routes where two or three railroads were in direct competition with each other, no expense was spared in making passenger trains as fast, luxurious and affordable as possible.
In reality, few in federal government wanted to be held responsible for the seemingly inevitable extinction of the passenger train, which would be tantamount to political suicide. The need to solve the problem was heightened by the 21 June 1970 bankruptcy filing of the Pennsylvania Central, the dominant railroad in the north east of America.
The Rail Passenger Service Act was passed in 1970 in which congress created the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (NRPC) to subsidise and oversee the operation of intercity passenger trains. The original name for NRPC was RailPax which eventually became known as Amtrak.
In reality, few in federal government wanted to be held responsible for the seemingly inevitable extinction of the passenger train, which would be tantamount to political suicide. The need to solve the problem was heightened by the 21 June 1970 bankruptcy filing of the Pennsylvania Central, the dominant railroad in the north east of America.The railroad freight industry continued its decline until congress passed the Staggers Rail Act in 1980, which largely deregulated the rail industry, since when the freight railroads have reorganised, discontinued their lightly used rates and returned to profitability.
In both the United States and Canada it is overwhelming the case that the rails upon which the various listed rail companies run are in fact owned by those companies such that they are entirely responsible for their upkeep, maintenance etc.
It is the opposite in Mexico where the government owns and is thus responsible for all rail infrastructure. Lines are operated under charters to rail companies such as Ferromex (FXE), Ferrosur (FSRR) and Kansas City Southern de Mexico, who perform freight services and are paid by government to upkeep the tracks.
Notwithstanding, a very small proportion of the track in the USA is in fact owned by the federal government, namely the north east corridor between the capital, Washington and Boston, but operated under the auspices of Amtrak. For everywhere else that Amtrak operates it does not own the track but leases it under operating rights from the class one or regional railroads.
In the USA the class one railroads dedicate a large portion of their yearly capital expenditure (CAPEX) budgets towards track and infrastructure upkeep and improvement. It is considered one of the safest and most cost-effective ways to move freight. In 2020, the railroads invested nearly US$24bn in CAPEX toward this effort which represented nearly 19% of the yearly revenues.
Barry Hiscox FCInstCES
Past President, CICES
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1 The standard railroad gauge in the USA is the same as the UK and 55% of the world at 4ft 8.5in (1,485mm). Sometimes referred to its originator George Stephenson of ‘Rocket’ fame in the UK as the Stephenson Gauge or latterly in Europe as International Gauge, UIC Gauge, Uniform Gauge or Normal Gauge and SGR in East Africa.
All high speed rail trains use this standard railroad gauge except Russia, Finland and Uzbekistan.