I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2937 

To permit Amtrak to bring civil actions in Federal district court to enforce 

the right set forth in section 24308(c) of title 49, United States Code, 

which gives intercity and commuter rail passenger transportation preference over freight transportation in using a rail line, junction, or crossing. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 30, 2021 

Mr. PAYNE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee 

on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To permit Amtrak to bring civil actions in Federal district 

court to enforce the right set forth in section 24308(c) 

of title 49, United States Code, which gives intercity 

and commuter rail passenger transportation preference 

over freight transportation in using a rail line, junction, 

or crossing. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rail Passenger Fair3 ness Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 (1) Congress created Amtrak under the Rail 

6 Passenger Service Act of 1970 (Public Law 91– 

7 158). 

8 (2) Amtrak began serving customers on May 1, 

9 1971, taking over the operation of most intercity 

10 passenger trains that private, freight railroads were 

11 previously required to operate. In exchange for as12 suming these passenger rail operations, Amtrak was 

13 given access to the national rail network. 

14 (3) In return for relief from the obligation to 

15 provide intercity passenger service, railroads over 

16 which Amtrak operated (referred to in this section 

17 as ‘‘host railroads’’) were expected to give Amtrak 

18 passenger trains preference over freight trains when 

19 using the national rail network. 

20 (4) In 1973, Congress passed the Amtrak Im21 provement Act of 1973 (Public Law 93–146), which 

22 gives intercity and commuter rail passenger trans23 portation preference over freight transportation in 

24 using a rail line, junction, or crossing. This right, 

25 which is now codified as section 24308(c) of title 49, 

26 United States Code, states, ‘‘Except in an emerVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:08 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2937.IH H2937

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1 gency, intercity and commuter rail passenger trans2 portation provided by or for Amtrak has preference 

3 over freight transportation in using a rail line, junc4 tion, or crossing unless the Board orders otherwise 

5 under this subsection. A rail carrier affected by this 

6 subsection may apply to the Board for relief. If the 

7 Board, after an opportunity for a hearing under sec8 tion 553 of title 5, decides that preference for inter9 city and commuter rail passenger transportation ma10 terially will lessen the quality of freight transpor11 tation provided to shippers, the Board shall establish 

12 the rights of the carrier and Amtrak on reasonable 

13 terms.’’. 

14 (5) Many host railroads have ignored the law 

15 referred to in paragraph (4) by refusing to give pas16 senger rail the priority to which it is statutorily enti17 tled and giving freight transportation the higher pri18 ority. As a result, Amtrak’s on time performance on 

19 most host railroads is poor, has declined between 

20 2014 through 2019, and continues to decline. 

21 (6) According to Amtrak, 6,500,000 customers 

22 on State-supported and long-distance trains arrived 

23 at their destination late during fiscal year 2019. 

24 Nearly 70 percent of these delays were caused by 

25 host railroads, amounting to a total of 3,200,000 


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1 minutes. The largest cause of these delays was 

2 freight train interference, which accounted for more 

3 than 1,000,000 minutes of delay for Amtrak pas4 sengers, or approximately 2 years, because host rail5 roads chose to give freight trains priority. 

6 (7) Poor on-time performance wastes taxpayer 

7 dollars. According to a 2019 report by Amtrak’s Of8 fice of Inspector General, a 5 percent improvement 

9 of on-time performance on all Amtrak routes would 

10 result in $12,100,000 in cost savings to Amtrak in 

11 the first year. If on-time performance on long-dis12 tance routes reached 75 percent for a year, Amtrak 

13 would realize an estimated $41,900,000 in operating 

14 cost savings, with a one-time savings of 

15 $336,000,000 due to a reduction in equipment re16 placement needs. 

17 (8) Historical data suggests that on-time per18 formance on host railroads is driven by the existence 

19 of an effective means to enforce Amtrak’s preference 

20 rights: 

21 (A) Two months after the date of the en22 actment of the Passenger Rail Investment and 

23 Improvement Act of 2008 (division B of Public 

24 Law 110–432), which included provisions for 

25 the enforcement of these preference rights, was 


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1 enacted, the on-time performance of long-dis2 tance trains improved from 56 percent to 77 

3 percent and Class I freight train interference 

4 delays across all routes declined by 40 percent. 

5 (B) One year after such date of enactment, 

6 freight train interference delays had declined by 

7 54 percent and the on-time performance of 

8 long-distance trains reached 85 percent. 

9 (C) In 2014, after some of the provisions 

10 in the Passenger Rail Investment and Improve11 ment Act of 2008 related to enforcement of 

12 preference were ruled unconstitutional by a 

13 D.C. Circuit Court, long-distance train on-time 

14 performance declined from 72 percent to 50 

15 percent, and freight train interference delays in16 creased 59 percent. 

17 (D) The last time long-distance trains 

18 achieved an on-time rate of more than 80 per19 cent in a given month was February 2012. 

20 (9) As a result of violations of Amtrak’s right 

21 to preference, Amtrak has been consistently unable 

22 on host railroad networks to meet its congressionally 

23 mandated mission and goals, which are codified in 

24 section 24101 of title 49, United States Code (relatVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:08 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2937.IH H2937

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1 ing to providing on-time and trip-time competitive 

2 service to its passengers). 

3 (10) Amtrak does not have an effective mecha4 nism to enforce its statutory preference right in 

5 order to fulfill its mission and goals. Only the Attor6 ney General can bring a civil action for equitable re7 lief in a district court of the United States to en8 force Amtrak’s preference rights. 

9 (11) In Amtrak’s entire history, the only en10 forcement action initiated by the Attorney General 

11 was against the Southern Pacific Transportation 

12 Company in 1979. 

13 (12) Congress supports continued authority for 

14 the Attorney General to initiate an action, but Am15 trak should also be entitled to bring a civil action be16 fore a Federal district court to enforce its statutory 

17 preference rights. 

18 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZE AMTRAK TO BRING A CIVIL ACTION TO 

19 ENFORCE IT PREFERENCE RIGHTS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 24308(c) of title 49, 

21 United States Code, is amended, by adding at the end the 

22 following: ‘‘Notwithstanding sections 24103(a) and 

23 24308(f), Amtrak shall have the right to bring an action 

24 for equitable or other relief in the United States District 


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1 Court for the District of Columbia to enforce the pref2 erence rights granted under this subsection.’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 24103 of 

4 title 49, United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘and 

5 section 24308(c)’’ before ‘‘, only the Attorney General’’. 

Æ 


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