Our community is served by the Pennsylvanian which has two runs daily in each direction between Pittsburg and New York. Ridership is increasing (we used to have only one train daily) and fares are reasonable. Even on-time performance isn't too bad-- usually within 30 minutes. My daughter used it regularly to visit us when she was a nanny in New Jersey.
Main complaint was even two trains per day made it less convenient and almost as expensive as driving.
After Billions of federal subsidy, Amtrak is able to operate its one train a day in each direction between Pittsburgh and New York only 29 minutes slower than the Pennsylvania railroad did 75 years ago (when there were 22 trains a day in each direction), and only 1 hour and 44 minutes slower than 50 years ago (when there were 17 trains a day in each direction).
When there was an actual market demand for intercity rail passenger service in this country, private railroads provided it far more efficiently than than today's Amtrak fans can possibly imagine.