Your comment gives the impression that Amtrak has no business operating on the tracks they do.
The reason the freight companies own those rails is primarily from the land grants made my the federal government which came with obligations, such as providing passenger service. Amtrak has trackage rights because the freight companies wanted to divest their passenger rail operations. Maybe an unwelcome guest, but essentially a former part of their own operations.
Anyhow, buses are an insufficient substitute for passenger trains and already available from other operators. If they were sufficient people wouldn't be on the trains.
Yeah. They gave railroads the initial land — in 1872. There’s been a lot that’s happened since then, like the bankruptcy and near-complete collapse of functional passenger rail transportation in most areas in the 1970s-1980s, as it faced stunning new competition from cars and planes.
But the argument of “is this justified given the history?!” should take a back seat; certainly Congress is able to force the industry’s hand whether or not it’s justified. The first question should be whether it’s a good idea in the first place, since rail is doing useful things for the US economy, which would ultimately shoulder more costs for it than the railroads themselves as a business.
Damaging the supply chain and raising prices across the economy while putting more trucks on the taxpayer-funded roads emitting more carbon dioxide is a steep price. Incremental improvements to the reliability of seldom-used cross-country routes through the sparsely inhabited West at speeds of about 60mph aren’t worth that price.
The reason the freight companies own those rails is primarily from the land grants made my the federal government which came with obligations, such as providing passenger service. Amtrak has trackage rights because the freight companies wanted to divest their passenger rail operations. Maybe an unwelcome guest, but essentially a former part of their own operations.
Anyhow, buses are an insufficient substitute for passenger trains and already available from other operators. If they were sufficient people wouldn't be on the trains.