diff --git a/tools/maintainer/train/train.sh b/tools/maintainer/train/train.sh
index 45561b5..b052d54 100755
--- a/tools/maintainer/train/train.sh
+++ b/tools/maintainer/train/train.sh
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@
 # refresh.sh merges main into each PR and pushes, land.sh waits for its GitHub Actions run, commits
 # the corpus counts that run measured when they moved, and lands it. Nothing is built or tested on
 # this machine. A PR that went DIRTY or found main moved under it is refreshed once more. A PR
-# stacked on another PR's branch waits at the end of the queue until GitHub retargets it to main.
+# stacked on another PR's branch waits at the end of the queue until GitHub retargets it to main,
+# and so does one on main that holds commits of an older open PR, until that PR lands.
 # Anything else that stops a PR is logged and the train moves on. Append to the queue file to add
 # work while it runs; this script is read once, so restart the train to pick up a change to it.
 # Progress: $TRAIN_STATE/train.log.
@@ -25,6 +26,36 @@ wait_at_end() {
   log "TRAIN #$P $1"
   [ "$waiting" -ge "$(grep -c -E '^[0-9]+$' "$Q")" ] && { log "TRAIN every queued PR waits; waiting ${TRAIN_DEFER_SLEEP:-600} s"; sleep "${TRAIN_DEFER_SLEEP:-600}"; waiting=0; }
 }
+# A PR stacked on an older open PR targets main but holds that PR's commits. Landed first, it would
+# carry the older PR's work into main under its own title; refreshed while the older PR is held, it
+# merges main over the older PR's commits and can no longer merge against them once that PR lands.
+# It waits while an older open PR (a lower number, whatever branch it targets) shares a commit with it
+# that is neither on main nor in a PR that has already landed on main by squash (one merged into
+# another branch has not): two PRs built on the same landed PR share only that PR's commits and do
+# not wait for each other. Every PR head is fetched to refs/train/pr/<n> in the main clone. Prints
+# the PR to wait for, or nothing; any failed lookup returns 2, and the caller then defers the PR
+# rather than letting it through unchecked.
+g() { git -C "$TRAIN_CLONE" "$@"; }
+older_open() {
+  local head open merged="" n h c pr
+  g fetch -q origin main '+refs/pull/*/head:refs/train/pr/*' 2> /dev/null || return 2
+  head=$(g rev-parse -q --verify "refs/train/pr/$1^{commit}") || return 2
+  open=$(gh api --paginate "repos/$TRAIN_REPO/pulls?state=open&per_page=100" --jq ".[]|select(.number < $1)|.number" 2> /dev/null) || return 2
+  for n in $open; do
+    h=$(g rev-parse -q --verify "refs/train/pr/$n^{commit}") || return 2
+    for c in $(g merge-base --all "$h" "$head"); do
+      g merge-base --is-ancestor "$c" origin/main && continue
+      if [ -z "$merged" ]; then
+        merged=$(gh api --paginate "repos/$TRAIN_REPO/pulls?state=closed&per_page=100" --jq '.[]|select(.merged_at and .base.ref == "main")|.number' 2> /dev/null) || return 2
+      fi
+      for pr in $(g for-each-ref --contains "$c" --format='%(refname:lstrip=3)' refs/train/pr/); do
+        grep -qx "$pr" <<< "$merged" && continue 2
+      done
+      echo "$n"
+      return 0
+    done
+  done
+}
 while :; do
   P=$(grep -m1 -E '^[0-9]+$' "$Q")
   [ -z "$P" ] && break
@@ -33,6 +64,9 @@ while :; do
     read -r st base < <(gh pr view "$P" -R "$TRAIN_REPO" --json state,baseRefName --jq '"\(.state) \(.baseRefName)"' 2>/dev/null)
     [ "$st" != OPEN ] && { log "TRAIN #$P skipped: state=$st"; break; }
     [ "$base" != main ] && { wait_at_end "waits: it targets $base, not main; back to the end of the queue"; break; }
+    under=$(older_open "$P"); orc=$?
+    [ $orc != 0 ] && { wait_at_end "waits: could not check which open PRs it builds on; back to the end of the queue"; break; }
+    [ -n "$under" ] && { wait_at_end "waits: it holds commits of open #$under, which lands first; back to the end of the queue"; break; }
     log "TRAIN #$P refresh (attempt $attempt)"
     out=$(bash "$TRAIN_HERE/refresh.sh" "$P" 2>&1); rc=$?
     echo "$out" > "$TRAIN_STATE/refresh-$P.log"