The slow pace of trains in the U.S. can be maddening, particularly during delays on rail sidings for an hour or more to enable freight trains - which have the right-of-way - to pass.

Many Americans have a romanticized view of trains, rooted in a bygone era of elaborately adorned rail cars lit by flickering gas lamps and pulled by smoke-belching steam locomotives.

We are working to re-route trains. We have held some freight trains, but are working to re-route others.

Because fewer trains will be able to travel per hour, customers will experience crowding and delays.

Historically, maritime travelers had to pass around the entire mass of North and South America, including the bottom tip, the tempestuous Cape Horn, which was littered with shipwrecks.

Without an adequate response, an epidemic can develop into a pandemic, which generally means it has spread to more than one continent.