NCRR does not view themselves as a freight railroad. I think their 1840 charter explicitly mentions passenger operations. If their sole shareholder (the state of NC) tells them to accommodate passenger trains, short of breaching the lease agreement with Norfolk Southern, they will do so.
Their revenue stream is limited, for sure, but NCDOT and the feds have not hesitated to pour some money in and it is reasonable enough to expect that to continue to plan for it, IMO.
That said, I do wonder how much that is jacking the cost of the commuter rail line.