I can't believe that you Jerry, of all people a former Amtrak worker, would write this without realizing that you CANNOT make the operating crew work over-time. And when you have trains running many hours late, you end up with operating crews that aren't rested and cannot be ordered to work. No operating crew; no moving train. Sure, you can order the OBS crews to work; but that still won't get the train moved.Make staff work over-time, run trains late, but RUN them, load extra provisions. PLAN for disasters and crew changes...
And that's not being an Amtrak apologist; that is the reality of the laws thrust upon Amtrak and every other RR by the FRA.