Are there any of these types of services? Freight has priority and you have to wait multiple times as they pass.
If there are any, they'll be in the USA, as I gather that the Freight companies own the tracks there, so will prioritise their trains over Amtrak's. I don't think we've got any of those routes in Train Sim World yet, though.
Well, that's not actually true, except when it is. It's been a controversy for half a century, ever since passenger rail was nationalized. By law, the railroads have to give Amtrak scheduling priority. And they do. However, nothing mandates that, when Amtrak is late, they have to hold up their own services to wait for it. And since Amtrak almost always manages to get behind schedule all on its own,* it then can get behind a freight and a ten-minute delay quickly becomes a 60-minute delay. Still, an Amtrak is never actually pulled onto a siding to allow a freight to get in front of it, except in extraordinary circumstances *I was once stuck in Washington for the better part of three hours because the cafe attendant hadn't shown up, and rather than have a sub drive in from Baltimore - maybe a half-hour - (or God forbid do without), the train was held until the sub could come do0wn from Balto by the next southbound train as specified by union contract
I am from US yes in some circumstances they will give a freight priority somtimes over a passenger train . Usualky it a intermodal container train .., back in the 70s 80s etc i was told sometimes they would give freight a priority over a steam or diesel excursion train at times
Oh, now, I did not know that. I thought there were some single track lines where freight trains are now so long that they can't fit on the passing loops anymore, so the passenger trains have to go there. I need to rewatch that Wendover Productions video...
Does that happen in reality? Yes. As long as the line speed is around 110 km/h (depending on number of stops), it is often worth to send straight running freight before stopping train. Does that happen in TSW? Not very often, usually freights are running fictive timetables and filling the gaps, so that there are not many collisions. The routes are also often too short for this cummulative effect of stops to show a lot. There are some services where it happens (and as high as some ICEs being held for freight), but that's usually more a side effect of subpar dispatching logic than an intention.
Yeah I find Fulda is particularly prone to this, I’ve had freights hold up a couple of ICEs at once there.
That is now becoming an issue, as trains grow ever longer. Wheras in the past, and today where possible, a passenger (ie Amtrak) train is only going to be stuck behind a freight as far as the next usable siding, where the freight pulls over. But these days the number of suitably long sidings is greatly reduced.
In Canada freight has priority anywhere outside the Windsor-Quebec City corridor. So all the west is run this way and is one of the reasons it takes 4 days to go from Toronto to Vancouver.
As a rule of thumb, in the UK trains will always be timed and regulated by class. So a Class 1 or 2 passenger train would get priority over anything else (though the signallers and controllers need to be mindful of Class 3 or Class 5 ECS going to work a passenger train). Any exception would be an on the day decision by the Control or signaller. For example you might have a delayed Class 4 or Class 6 freight in the evening which, if it ran even later, could mean a time critical engineering possession might have to be held off, if the train couldn’t be diverted and (these days) nowhere to recess it. So it would make sense to get the freight away in front of a Class 2 all stations stopper which it could probably outpace at 60 MPH and certainly a Class 4 at 75 MPH. Matt P has said previously stated the the TSW signalling algorithms do have a limited capacity for regulation. It might not (yet) be intelligent enough to use alternate lines, platforms or loops but it will look at junctions and if the player train is late, let a service booked to follow out in front. I had this on GWE when a few minutes late with a Reading to Paddington local, at West Ealing the Greenford to Paddington service which should have followed me had gone in front. In time, it would be nice to see this improved and modified further to give a more dynamic operational environment, including the ability to re platform at stations when trains are running late.
Back in 2018 I travelled by Train from Chicago to LA with a layover in Seattle. It was incredible. It's entirely possible but I only remember being delayed once waiting for a Freight train to pass us, every other time we had priority over freight.
On the other hand, I remember a rare example of delayed Amtrak actually sidelining freight trains. I was on a California Zephyr arriving in Chicago in the late afternoon on July 4th. We had some delay, and for the last two hours, we were basically swerving between stopped freight trains so we didn't get more delay on that very day and make it to Chicago at a reasonable time.
While this in principal is correct. The introduction of TDA, signallers will always run a passenger train infront of a freight train as they'll get told off by route control for not keeping passenger trains to right time.
Except when the Train Running Controller overrules it, as I did on quite a few occasions and even got thanked by the RCM or Infra Controller for protecting the T3 start time. If need be the delay would be attributed to the Control but as a “good” cause as opposed to the more usual blame culture.
It was related on one of my California trips as a two mile siding every three miles. I guess with the new practice of essentially chaining two full-length trains together with an anchor loco in the middle, an Amtrak can be forced to the siding by default. The Empire Builder/Coast Starlight run? That's been on my bucket list for ages, and I'm hoping to finally do it next year.
There's on MSB. This I know because I spent quite some time playing this route. At Heigenbrucken station you'll be allowed to pass while the passanger train has to wait, if there's any.
Fulda is the main driver change point for privat freight companies... change over is usually on the platform and not in the freight yard. It´s always very busy there!
Yep, travelled with my brother and it was incredible. It's definitely worth doing. An incredible experience, especially on the Starlight waking up in the Californian desert as the sun rises.
That is I believe because coming up the Rampe, you don't want to stop a heavy freight and then try to get it going again. (Past tense, the Rampe and Heigenbrucken Bhf were bypassed a few years ago)
Umm, the Coast Starlight runs nowhere near any of California's deserts.... Based on your description, the Coast Starlight would be somewhere in the North Valley near Sacramento during sunrise. (For Southbound trains)
In fairness, all of Southern California is pretty much desert. Urban LA looks "green" largely thanks to massive irrigation
