Amtrak barred from rulemaking over freight rails

July 3, 2013

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Amtrak’s role in setting on-time performance standards that could trigger U.S. investigations of railroads whose trains get in its way are unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington today said Congress had improperly delegated to Amtrak, a private corporation, the power to draft performance standards that affected companies whose tracks the passenger carrier uses. Amtrak trains have legal priority over freight.

Read the full story at Bloomberg.