Indy to Chicago has a passenger train schedule that would seem efficient at first glance if you don't want to fly or drive. Let's say you wanted to see a Cubs or Sox game.
It would take about 4 hours to get there by train and cost about $150 round trip for two people. Plus, the schedule doesn't match up with game times. You would likely have to spend the night.
The 4 hours includes 2 or 3 stops. You can drive in 3 hours and for about $125 in gas round trip. Flying would take you 3 hours when checking in and all that but would cost about $350 (best price round trip with overnight stay).
So I too have wondered, why hasn't anyone considered running some passenger trains that should be able to cut travel to 2 hours at about $40/person on infrastructure that already exists? I would think there would be a considerable market for this all over the Midwest.
Indy, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit (if it still has recyclable metal tracks in place), etc. are all 3 to 4 hour trips. Indiana already has a huge rail network (Crossroads of America) that would seem to make it work simply.
As a frequent user of the Amtrak Cardinal, I think I can answer a few of those questions.
The direct line Indy-Lafayette tracks (NYCentral Line) were pulled up in the 80’s. The train now must go Indy-Crawfordsville-Lafayette, adding 40 miles to the trip, over rail lines owned by two different companies.
The real problem for this train is the bottleneck on the Chicago Southside. Amtrak has to add 60 minutes to the schedule due to this, and sometimes sits for far longer than that, just short of the east-west mainline. This effects the train both ways.
Once off the Chicago area tracks and on the Monon, heading southbound, it usually does very well.