U.S. Accuses Norfolk Southern of Delaying Amtrak Trains

In the Age of Rail, passenger traffic was carried by commercial railroad operators themselves, often as major if not principle revenue source. Managing freight/passenger scheduling conflicts was an internal matter (modulo railroad regulation, which was extensive and one of the first regulated industries in the US, though I don't know of specifics concerning quality of scheduled passenger service).

For a sense of rail's dominance in passenger travel, 98% of all commercial intercity travel in the US in 1916 was by rail, with 2% going by inland waterways. (<https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/1960/compendia/...> (PDF) via Wikipedia: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak>)

Amtrak didn't exist until 1971. As I understand, that's some time after 1940. Commercial operators were phasing out passenger service heavily in the 1950s and 1960s, with the final blow coming from the US Postal Service discontinuing rail-based transport (and sorting! --- in special post office cars) in 1967. This had been another major revenue source for railroads.

Amtrak is a rail operator but directly owns only a small fraction of its total route mileage: 623 miles out of 21,400 miles of total routes, just under 3%.

A railroad company generally owns significant trackage, that is, the roads, and most US operators principally operate over their own rights of way, though they may have transit rights over other companies' track, usually for only a small portion of total trip distance. Railroad companies also generally own their locomotives ("traction"), and some but not all rolling stock. The actual wagons of a trainset might be owned by the railroad operator itself, by another railroad company, by a car-leasing agency, or by a private shipper.

Amtrak is unusual not only for its lack of track ownership, but by the fact that it owns virtually all of its own rolling stock. Privately-owned railcars can be attached to scheduled Amtrak service, though this is a minuscule fraction of total traffic. See: <https://www.amtrak.com/privately-owned-rail-cars>.

Base rate, ~$5/mi, $2,435 minimum charge, numerous additional charges. See: <https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...> and <https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...> (both PDF). Beware switching fees ....