Freights First Act

This bill would give freight trains first priority over Amtrak passenger trains on tracks near major shipping areas. Specifically, it ends Amtrak’s usual priority on rail lines, junctions, and crossings within 50 miles of a port or a rail yard. Today, Amtrak’s priority can already be set aside during emergencies; this adds a new, permanent limit near ports and rail yards .

What this could mean for daily life:

• Who is affected: Amtrak riders, commuters on routes that share tracks with freight, freight shippers, and communities near ports and rail yards.
• What changes: In those port and rail yard zones (up to 50 miles out), freight trains would go first, which could lead to more delays for passenger trains there; freight movement may speed up in those areas .
• When: The change would start once the bill becomes law; no special start date is listed in the text.