Quote Originally Posted by jcole View Post
Because if they use lines that aren't owned by them, they are liable to be sidelined when other trains take the right of way. That's a big part of Amtrak's problem; they don't own enough lines so they are second class citizens, so to speak, and have to often sit on sidings and wait for freight traffic to clear
Talking with the AMTRAK people here in Florida, the railroads schedule their freights around the AMTRAK schedule. So long as the AMTRAK train stays on schedule. it should not be sidelined for a freight. When the AMTRAK train falls behind schedule, then it becomes the dispatcher's red-headed stepchild and the freights have priority. If the AMTRAK Pontiac-Chicago train is delayed getting out of Detroit westbound or Chicago eastbound, then it gets scheduled around the freights. If it is on time, the freights are cleared unless there is a problem with the freights and they are blocking the tracks.