Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors (2010) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix A - The U.S. Railroad Industry
Appendix A - The U.S. Railroad Industry
Pages 92-108
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Railroad Industry
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passenger and freight railroad industry and accompanying legal and institutional arrangements are the end products of decades of change in the railroads themselves and in their competitors. Existing intercity and commuter rail services were established in their present form at different points over this period and reflect local and national circumstances in the railroad industry at those times.
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The purpose of separating passenger service from the freight carriers was twofold: 1) to take the financial burden of money-losing passenger carriage off the freight railroads, and 2)
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State and local agencies in the Northeast became fully responsible for commuter rail services, in most cases by establishing their own commuter rail operations. These included the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)
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A.3 Freight Railroads A.3.1 Introduction Freight railroads own and operate about 97 percent of the railroad route miles in the United States, with the remainder, about 5,000 miles, owned by Amtrak and commuter rail agencies. Freight railroads also provide mostly local freight service over most routes owned by passenger agencies.
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Regional railroads can be long-standing independents that were A-6 Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors Railroad U.S. Route Miles Revenue TonMiles (billions)
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Upon starting operations on May 1, 1971, Amtrak discontinued a significant portion of the non-commuter rail services that had been operated by the freight railroads, retaining only a DOT-designated route system determined to have the best chance of becoming profitable and which could be supported with the available funding. This became the core Amtrak network that The U.S.
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commuter services on the NEC are operated by Amtrak, and the remainder by regional commuter rail agencies (SEPTA, NJT, Long Island Railroad (LIRR)
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There is no nationwide organization providing commuter rail services, established procedures for access to the railroad network, or cost sharing between multiple users of a commuter corridor, such as those that exist for Amtrak intercity services. Operating arrangements for each system and often for individual routes within a system have evolved in response to local circumstances.
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Commuter rail agencies in the United States (in service 1st quarter 2009)
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The remaining commuter rail systems contract for O&M with a freight railroad, Amtrak, or an independent firm, depending on local circumstances. In some cases the principal functions (train operations, car and locomotive maintenance, and infrastructure maintenance)
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The scope of its activities is summarized in the following list: • Modes of transportation covered include local and regional bus services, light and heavy rail mass transit, commuter rail, commuter ferries, and para-transit systems. The FTA is not concerned with intercity rail transportation, although some shorter-distance Amtrak routes qualified for FTA funding, such as the Boston, Massachusetts to Portland, Maine Downeaster service, the Capitol Corridor in California, and the Philadelphia to Harrisburg service in Pennsylvania.
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A.5.4 Surface Transportation Board The STB was founded in 1995 by the ICC Termination Act, which eliminated the ICC and transferred some of its powers and duties to the STB. The bulk of the STB's responsibilities relate to freight railroads and interstate trucking, but it also inherited ICC responsibilities concerning Amtrak's relationship with host railroads, including resolving disputes between Amtrak and a freight carrier over access rights and payments.
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• Determining industry policies and practices on matters of common interest, especially on technical issues of interoperability between railroads, such as for data communications, train control communications, freight car and equipment condition, and operating rules. • AAR has established a subsidiary, Railinc Corporation, to provide data services to the freight railroads, including a national register of freight equipment, nationwide freight car location information, an official register of freight car rental rates, and inter-railroad billing and payment systems.
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AREMA is the primary developer of industry standards in its areas of interest and publishes two key industry manuals of standards and recommended practices: • Manual for Railway Engineering • Communications and Signaling Manual The manuals are updated annually through the work of about 30 specialist committees and are widely used and referenced in North America and throughout the world for application on freight and passenger railroads and rail transit systems. The Communications and Signals Manual was formerly maintained and published by AAR, but was transferred to AREMA when AAR narrowed its focus to the interests of the Class 1 freight railroads several years ago.
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A-16 Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors
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For the most part, working with the supply industry to obtain materials and services for a passenger rail project is the responsibility of the professional engineers, contractors, and consultants working on the project details, following customary industry standards and practices. However there are two or three areas where the structure of the industry and the products offered can have higherlevel influence on the implementation of new passenger rail services.
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