Using dixielandsoftware.net reveals that the westbound Southwest Chief has been on time at Albuquerque five times since 5/1/22. So, it is possible for the Southwest Chief to make schedule. But all of the factors cited by zephyr17 are true. However, Amtrak is loathe to add any time to the schedule on a freight railroad since it will almost never be cut again if conditions change.

That said, if you are taking a long distance Amtrak trip, watching the clock will be detrimental to your experience. Scheduling any activity for the day of your arrival, for example, can often set you up for failure. Amtrak schedules include extra time approaching crew change points, changes of railroad, and terminals. This recovery time is there to allow the freight railroads to possibly gain incentive payments for "on time" performance. So a late train can become less late or even on time. So if you are the type to worry about a couple of hours of delay on your long haul Amtrak trip, you may not be train rider material.

This does not excuse the horrific delays that the California Zephyr in particular is experiencing currently, but the freight railroads are suffering problems (many of them self inflicted) in maintaining their supply chains for freight, and Amtrak is often caught up in it. I just cancelled a trip on the California Zephyr because I didn't want to arrive Chicago in the middle of the night.