[vinay427]

Nit: I couldn’t find a source that indicated the US leads in carbon consumption per capita, although it is near the top.

For instance:

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/consumption-co2-per-capit...

More to the point, as several other comments noted the official policy is to prioritize passenger rail, which clearly wasn’t happening, so hopefully events such as these will begin to change that.

[nopenopenopeno]

>the official policy is to prioritize passenger rail

Define "official"

>hopefully events such as these will begin to change that.

What events?

If you think this was a rare case, you obviously don't ride Amtrak long distance much. Most interstate Amtrak trips get delayed by freight, and it has been that way for decades.

[bobthepanda]

The official policy, in that it is literally US law. The subject of the article is an attempt to enforce said provisions.

[nopenopenopeno]

Sure, but there is no precedent for such regulation as long as the railroads are privately owned by the same corporations that control congress. This is yet another case of HN Utopianism.

[stonogo]

Why would there need to be a precedent? The regulation has been in place for forty-five years. It's the law. Congress passed it. The only new aspect is that Amtrak can now request these investigations, where previously it was the sole purview of the Department of Justice, an organization famously known for not being Congress.