With both passenger and freight trains gaining more business and support, passenger trains face a new foe: freight trains.
Freight railroads initially welcomed passenger trains on their tracks. It meant free government money to upgrade their tracks.
But now, there's a problem of too many trains wanting to use the same tracks.
Freight rail traffic is up, a record, and expected to double and then triple over the next decade. That's good.
Passenger rail traffic is up, a record, and expected to continue to grow. That's good.
But expect freight railroads to increasingly resist allocating too much of their track time to passenger trains, as it takes away from their own freight business. It's a good problem, but a problem nevertheless.
The solution won't be initiated until around 2020 when passenger-only track is laid for truly high speed trains, and the possibility of other track becoming governed owned is debated.

My brilliant co-author resting easy on a train.