Public Transportation and Smart Growth

how much actual track this 'within 50 miles of a port or rail yard' restriction would affect.

The little I know about rail yards leads me to believe except in the west where towns are sparse, this would cover just about all the tracks with very little left over, and certainly everywhere there are population centers, with people using Amtrak, there are also rail yards.

I think the freight haulers have plenty of hours in the day when Amtrak traffic is light, to schedule freight routes and not inhibit the flow of passenger service. They seem to be doing just fine the way things are.