But UPS and FedEx are demanding trains that are time-critical, but not necessarily in need of overnight movement. UPS and the CSX have worked on a deal, and FedEx wants an arrangement similar to the "hot freight" of fifty years ago. They want to own the train and pay the BNSF or the CSX to provide a locomotive, cab crew and dispatching services.
The UP has an arrangement with the CSX to move fresh fruit and vegetables from California to Brooklyn on a very tight schedule with only a crew change, rather than a locomotive change, at Chicago.
The railroads are getting back into the business of moving time-sensitive materials on fixed schedules. Now if you put a coach or a few sleepers on the end of that train, you have a "hot freight" carrying people. This may be how things end up.
A while back I learned that in many areas of freight movement the speed of a delivery is less important than the reliability. In other words, many customers would rather receive a delivery in twelve days on the dot than seven days with the possibility that it might be six or eight.