In the 90s, I owned a home that backed-up to the rail line; about 100 feet from the rail bed, actually.
I also grew up in that town and the whistles could be heard several times a day.
There are no siding tracks for long stretches between Chicago and Detroit, so freight and passenger share a single track.
In those areas, the ROW is 75 feet across (25-foot maintenance / working easements).
If a box car quits rolling, it can easily be tipped over onto the maintenance easement and then when time is more convenient, a crew can come out, disassemble it and carry it to the “yard” (which is in Chicago).
I don’t know how long they get to keep equip in the easement but, it can happen ‘cuz the railroad has its own set of environmental rules.
(1) Back in the late 60s, a freight hauler derailed outside the city limits. Most grain cars and empties headed for Detroit.
After the cause was determined, they bulldozed the whole lot to the side and repaired the track so the Amtrak line could resume.
Over the next 6-8 months, they emptied the cars and disassembled all of them.
(2) Did you know that unrefined and refined petroleum products leaking from rail cars onto the railbed don’t need to be cleaned up if the leak occurred for over more than a mile before discovery, regardless of amount.
Everyone else must have an SPCC plan.
Railroads are special.