National Rail Network

In United States railroading, the term national rail network refers to the entire network of interconnected standard gauge rail lines in North America. It does not include most subway or light rail lines. Federal Railroad Administration regulations require passenger cars used on the national rail network to be heavy and strong enough to protect riders in case of collision with freight trains. Most mass transit vehicles do not meet this requirement. Commuter rail equipment generally does, as do all Amtrak cars. Mass transit systems that do not meet FRA requirements cannot even be connected to the national rail network, unless the connection layout only permits the transfer of one or two cars at a time, for example via a Y stub siding.


Famous quotes containing the words national, rail and/or network:

    I came here for one thing only, to try to help national Ireland—and if there is no such thing in existence then the sooner I pay for my illusions the better.
    Roger Casement (1864–1916)

    Old man, it’s four flights up and for what?
    Your room is hardly any bigger than your bed.
    Puffing as you climb, you are a brown woodcut
    stooped over the thin rail and the wornout tread.
    Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    Of what use, however, is a general certainty that an insect will not walk with his head hindmost, when what you need to know is the play of inward stimulus that sends him hither and thither in a network of possible paths?
    George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)