"The product of the railways is the successful arrival of passengers at their chosen destination." Clearly, this was not written in the USA. With a few exceptions (NE corridor, Wolverine route), Amtrak is forced to share rails with host freight (goods) railroads who could give a hoot about the expedient delivery of passengers. The Big 4 (BNSF, UP, CSX, NS) would rather just let their freight have priority and pay a minimal fine. Sadly, this will continue to be the case where Amtrak does not have their own right of way (NE Corridor, Wolverine).