Amtrak is great. The only problem is that unless you live in the Northeast BosWash corridor the schedules are very unfavorable. When I lived in Charlotte the only train I could take to NY to see my family departed at about 2 in the morning. So if I wanted to spend a weekend seeing my family I would have to leave Saturday at 2AM and arrive in NY sometime after 12PM. It was just as unfavorable when looking for a train to get back to work on time for Monday morning. In the end, because they have so few trains running, I would only have a few hours to actually see my family before I had to get back on the train again - and spend over $200 for the tickets.
Personally, I would love to see a major increase in intercity passenger rail service in this country. I believe that if it was made more convenient for people in other places outside of the Northeast that travelling by rail would become very popular.
I’ve grabbed the metroliner at Trenton station, about 15 minutes from where I live, to go down to DC a few times on business. No complaints, and I appreciated the space.