A fact to consider:
Passenger rail service has NEVER been profitable, and has always been subsidized by freight charges.
No, not always. Passenger service at one time was more profitable than freight, and that didn’t all have to do with the continued prevalence of canals (many of which are still in use today, incidentally). Then came the property taxes on the railroads . . . and of course, some “progressive” politicians had the idea of “commuted” fares for workers traveling between home and jobs, which further cut into profits . . . and in the early twentieth century, the next generation of progressive politicians had the idea of city-owned railroads as a “public utility” of sorts, which “competed” with private railroads . . . (see the declension?)
“Passenger rail service has NEVER been profitable, and has always been subsidized by freight charges.”
That’s why there is an AMTRAK! There is no private passenger service that I know of in the US today, except for maybe the Wine Train up in Napa. But it’s a round trip to St. Helena and you don’t get to get off there. Good food and wine though!