(Source: San Francisco Chronicle, November 28, 2014)
SAN FRANCISCO — Most any repeat Amtrak customer knows the ritual. You’re clipping along nicely on the rails when the engineer applies the brakes and puts the train onto a side rail. Then in five minutes — or maybe 30 — you get to watch a line of boxcars roll triumphantly past your window. That’s right: a freight train got priority once again and you’re going to be late. This “Amtrak two-step” has become a major contributor to passenger rail’s continuing bad reputation. It may also be illegal, and the federal government has had the power all along to stop it.
Full story: San Francisco Chronicle