Railway ownership?

Question

In China, all railways are operated by the railway authority,but i think conditons in US are not same,as far as i konw there are a lot of private owned railway companies.My wander is how does it work if trains belonged to the different companies want to enter other companies' railway?

Answer 1

Freight cars are interchanged. Locomotives normally don´t go from one railway to other but there are sections where one company is allowed to enter in the track of other company. Passenger trains (suburban or long distance - in USA) most operate over tracks of freight railways, but there are suburban railways that own several track sections or the complete line and Amtrak (operator of long distance passenger trains) is the owner of the Washington-Boston main line and branches to Harrisburg and Springfield. Also is the owner of some track sections in other parts of the country to allow passenger service to run over the most direct route (for example on the Chicago-Detroit line), to connect two freight lines or track in stations.
In Europe now most of the tracks are owned by a track authority (the main network, in Europe there are smaller railways that own their tracks) and state, private and third party railways run over them with their rolling stock paying fees. If the rolling stock is allowed can run from Italy to Sweden and from France to Poland for example.

Answer 2

Interchange agreements, power share agreements, and other contracts. Freight cars are interchanged freely, and locomotives go off system all the time -- plenty of BNSF units on NS, NS units on BNSF, etc., etc..

The railroad that owns the tracks operates the train. If a train is going from NS to BNSF with NS power and the agreement is for the same loco's to remain on the train, the only thing that will change is the crew.

Then you can get more into it with overhead trackage rights... Such as Amtrak owns a stretch of tracks with freight customers, a railroad such as P&W will have rights to provide freight service with P&W crews and trains that have qualified on Amtrak's trackage.

Answer 3

Other railroads must have a agreement or have trackage rights, ether way, the must pay a tons per mile fee... I work for BNSF out of Richmond or Stockton, CA. We take trains from our tracks to the UP, up to Roseville. We then pass the train (cars and engines) to UP crews to take over Donners Pass to Salt Lake City and back to BNSF rail and crews...

Answer 4

A train leaving the west coast will re crew several times on its trip to the east coast but the power or locomotives stay with the train.... Shop I work in sees power from almost every major railroad in the US and Canada, even Mexico..obtw. I work for CSX

Answer 5

agreements for usage or payment for usage,