Pretty common behavior for the non-rail media. When they report on a derailment or natural disaster blocking some railroad that carries Amtrak, they typically say something like, "the Amtrak line between Seattle and Chicago is closed," not realizing that it's Amtrak's SERVICE on a freight carrier's line. To say nothing of the fact that there's a lot more freight traffic impacted than passenger. Of course, the definition of "line" vs. "service" is itself debatable, but you get the point. Even when they do name the railroad, BNSF is often still referred to as Burlington Northern, or the Milwaukee Road (when discussing something like the Route of the Hiawatha trail) is called the Milwaukee Railroad.