Hacker News Reader

>I understand that US passenger trains don't have priority, and thus this isn't workable.

This is largely true, but isn't on the NEC. It's one of the few corridors that Amtrak actually owns.

Mostly. They don’t own the stretch through Connecticut for example, and the train will come to full stops between stations as a result.

This stretch is owned by another rail network (ConnDot) that prioritizes other passenger trains (Metro North and Shoreline East)

There's a large advantage to passengers having a nationally organized network - same as with air traffic control (provided by government), or highways (provided by government). Of course track segregation between non stop services and local services would be better.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com