I would rather see Amtrak being in charge of the passenger services, UP, BNSF etc. in charge of the freight services and the Federal Goverment in charge of the track infrastructure everywhere.
IMHO it is a strategic issue to maintain the national railroad infrastructure in best possible shape (9/11). The service companies can compete for the best service, but the track HAS to be maintened no matter, what.
Therefore the NEC infrastructure (catenary, rails, etc) will be owned by the Feds but it won't have any relationship to Amtrak.
This way it will be (finally) possible to separate the huge infrastructure costs as it is done with the road and air transportation and the transportation service. If you buy your Greyhound tickets you are not paying for the road maintenace. If you buy your SothWest ticket, you don't pay for the air control system either. Why do you pay for the infrastructure on Amtrak?
This, of course, would raise the huge issue of the track ownership - I am not sure, UP or BNSF would be happy to give their tracks to the Feds in exchange of being freed from the maintenance costs. However, this should be the solution ultimately. Nowhere in the world the private ownership of tracks did work out.
I am affraid, it won't happen anytime in our life here.