Thanks for the explanation and links
more often than not you have to work with what you have and especially in rural areas there might only be a single track available and adding more - especially if the landscape is more complex - it might be rather costly to add a second track or the people living there might protest against it
In the USA, which wants people to be as car dependent as possible they skimp on the two way tracks which are owned by freight rail companies.
Passenger trains often have to wait for freight trains to pass by because there is only one rail. This is problematic not only in terms of speed but track maintenance. With two rails you have the option of using one while the other is being fixed. As a result the ride is quite rough and sometimes trains derail.
As for the extra train track encroaching on people’s property, car infrastructure is much worse.
I can understand why people would be reluctant to be near a track owned by a reckless freight company transporting tanks of dangerous things at high speed on poorly maintained tracks near residential areas. The best solution for that would probably be to force the stockholders to live near the things they own that are dangerous.
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