Amtrak will always be crap for a number of reasons. Yes, everything the gubmint touches stinks. Also, amtrak leases their rail lines from freight lines that are abused daily by very heavy freight trains so when amtrak rides those rails they are rough as a cobblestone road.
Other countries will always have superior rail service because their passenger lines have rail dedicated to them exclusively......and are mostly privately run and managed.
I’ve seen a number of youtube videos singing the praises of amtrak with one woman claiming “its just like European train travel”......how she made that statement on video with a straight face is beyond me. SMH
Air-travel has become a nightmare, but its still faster for anything over 1 hour.
I do believe that if rail-travel was an option, people would choose rail. For example, Amtrak's Acela is often sold-out for the Boston-NY-DC corridor for nearby bookings, and in strong demand periods, they boost prices to rival airfares. For such high-density corridors, it shows there is a large market.
We should do much more to encourage private passenger rail investment. Most of that would simply be ending government control nd involvement.
Back a few years ago my wife & I considered a trip halfway across the country on Amtrak. Sure glad we decided against it, but I didn’t know at the time that they were having those kinds of problems. That could have been a disastrous trip, huh?