tracks themselves should be nationalized, just like roads are. then the government can allow any operator to use the tracks. don't get rid of redundancy, use it

tracks themselves should be nationalized, just like roads are. then the government can allow any operator to use the tracks. don't get rid of redundancy, use it to increase capacity, and where practical, keep cargo and passenger tracks separate. mixing busy cargo and passenger tracks is a bad idea, because passenger trains need to be reliable without delays in order to be attractive. cargo can handle delays better but wants to travel as fast as possible which is pretty difficult when passenger trains with their multiple stops get in the way. so without knowing the chicago rail network, i'd claim that there is no redundancy that could be freed