In the U.S., freight rail has the right of way, and Amtrak is at the mercy of the freight trains.
Mid 90’s I took it from Lincoln IL to Dallas and back. The train route for the first leg was Chicago to StL and it was a Fri night so there seemed to be a lot of students going to St Louis for the weekend or maybe a home visit. So it was fairly full. Once we got to StL most got off so there was plenty of room to spread out.
There was no designated place to park in Lincoln so I ended up parked at the police station. I talked to the dispatcher inside who said it was fine and they’d keep an eye on my vehicle. Small town Midwest good people.
Seemed like it was on time to Dallas pretty much. Coming back I think it was 2-4 hours late leaving Dallas but otherwise the trip was the same time travel-wise.