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USDA report outlines grain transportation issues
Congestion is totally caused by and result of the merging of too many companies. When you had the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific, Chicago Northwestern, Union Pacific, Chicago Burlington & Quincy, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, A., Topeka, & Santa Fe, Cotton Belt, Southern Pacific, the executive department of each railroad would expend their capital monies to keep the traffic moving and prevent congestion which would save loss of business by delays.
Congestion was prevented by the skill and foresight of many times more executives reviewing the situations as the changes happened. With the giant merges of today, there is totally less skill in the few companies left to keep up with the situation. When there were numerous companies, and one of you failed, you were replaced by the more skilled competitor. There are no competitors to BNSF in the northern tier for example.
And there were many alternative routes available to deal with derailments.