by ExCon90
When USRA was putting Conrail together in the 1970's they found that a railroad r/w had tremendous value to anyone wanting to run a long-distance transmission line of any kind because it spared them the need to negotiate with multiple individual property owners. A property 50 feet wide and hundreds of miles long has value if you need to run a transmission line; UP wouldn't need to have a use for the line in order to profit from allowing it.
So it would come down to whether Amtrak could find the money to pay UP.
So it would come down to whether Amtrak could find the money to pay UP.