1- We NEED, and MUST HAVE a viable National Rail (Pax and goods) System in this country. 9/11 showed just how valuable this backup can be.
2- That said, Amtrak has been a political vote-buying and union welfare program for FAR too long, and needs to be DESTROYED, and something new built from the ashes, FREE of the nearly yearly political shenanigans..
I understand the need for freight oriented rail. I have a contract with the FRA to automate the operation of anglecocks, cut levers, hand brakes and couplers. In addition, that contract includes ECP brakes, bearing temperature monitoring, vibration signature analysis of the bearings and tracking telemetry. Reduction of personnel injury and predictive scheduling of maintenance are two prime goals. Asset tracking is of interest to car owners. The ability to correlate locations of rough track via the GPS and accelerometer readings is useful for overall track maintenance. Additional analysis of the vibration from vertical bearing accelerometers and tri-axial accelerometers provides input to improve stability and diagnose the cause of premature wheelset damage.
The freight carrying capacity is a paying proposition. The passenger carrying portion is a political boondoggle.