Who actually runs the trains in North America
Roughly 160,000 miles of track, almost all of it owned by freight railroads, carrying a national passenger railroad as a tenant. Understanding that relationship explains most of what confuses travelers.
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The railroads that carry people
Amtrak, VIA Rail, Brightline and the commuter networks that connect to them.
PassengerAmtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation is America's only nationwide intercity passenger railroad, carrying more than 30 million passengers a year across 46 states, the…
PassengerVIA Rail Canada
Canada's national passenger carrier, co-operating the Maple Leaf with Amtrak and running the legendary transcontinental Canadian between Toronto and Vancouver.
PassengerBrightline
America's only privately owned and operated intercity passenger railroad, running higher-speed service between Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Aventura and Orlando…
CommuterCommuter Rail Networks
Metra, MBTA, NJ Transit, LIRR, Metro-North, SEPTA, MARC, VRE, Metrolink, Caltrain and Sounder all interchange with Amtrak, and often provide the cheapest final leg…
The railroads that own the track
Outside the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak is a tenant. These six companies own the rails your long-distance train runs on — which is why freight congestion shows up as passenger delay.
FreightBNSF Railway
One of the largest freight networks in North America, and the host railroad for the Southwest Chief, Empire Builder and much of the California…
FreightUnion Pacific Railroad
The original transcontinental railroad, still hosting Amtrak's California Zephyr, Coast Starlight, Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited over much of their mileage.
FreightCSX Transportation
The dominant freight carrier in the eastern United States and the host railroad for the Silver Service, Auto Train and much of the Capitol…
FreightNorfolk Southern Railway
Host railroad for the Crescent, the Pennsylvanian over Horseshoe Curve, and Virginia's expanding Roanoke and Lynchburg services.
FreightCanadian National Railway
The only railroad spanning three coasts — Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico — and host for portions of the City of New Orleans…
FreightCPKC (Canadian Pacific Kansas City)
The first single-line railroad connecting Canada, the United States and Mexico, formed by the 2023 merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.
Why the ownership structure matters to you
Amtrak owns roughly 3% of the track it operates over — essentially the Northeast Corridor plus short segments in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Everywhere else, it pays freight railroads for access and runs at their operational discretion.
Federal law gives passenger trains preference over freight, but enforcement is limited and the practical reality is that a long-distance train can lose an hour or more waiting for a freight to clear a single-track segment. This is not incompetence on Amtrak's part; it is a structural consequence of a network built for goods.
What this means when you plan
Never book a same-day flight connection off a long-distance train. Build in a night, or at minimum four hours. Northeast Corridor services, running on Amtrak's own track, are a different matter entirely and are reliable enough to plan tightly around.
The exceptions worth knowing
- Brightline owns and operates its own Florida infrastructure and is not subject to freight interference on most of its route.
- North Carolina owns the track its Piedmont trains run on, which is why they have one of the best on-time records in the country.
- Michigan owns much of the Wolverine corridor, enabling 110 mph running between Chicago and Detroit.
- Virginia has purchased rail corridors outright to expand service to Roanoke, Norfolk and Newport News.
