There is certainly a bit of nostalgia around passenger trains. I grew up in Delaware where both the B & O and the Pennsylvania lines served parts of the State with passenger service. My parents took us children to places like WDC and NYC on the train. The B & O cars were always much nicer than the Pennsylvania. Over the years both faded with the B & O fading away first. When I went to school in Virginia during the latter half of the 1960s two lines serviced the area: the Southern and the C & O out of WDC. Both railroads had good service and maintained their equipment. Select Southern trains had mail cars which actually picked up mail pouches along the way and sorted the mail. Probably a subsidy for the railroad. But as the 1960s ended, the C & O service ended leaving only the Southern by the time I graduated and went on active duty.

I have ridden passengers in Europe as well and agree with the comments posted earlier, especially the observation that Europe is much smaller and denser than the United States so rail travel makes sense in many areas. What makes sense for Europe and Europeans may not work as well in the US.

Pushing passenger rail in the US seems part of the broader "green" agenda which at its extremes wants to see all of us living in small apartments and walking or biking to work.

Around a decade ago, we rode the auto train from Virginia to Florida. It was OK.
We were going to the space coast to see one of the final space shuttle launches.
But what made me decide to NEVER do it again was some stupid passenger fuckup.
Some ignorant stupid bastard forgot their very important medication, and they left it in their automobile.
What did the train people do? They stopped the train in the middle of nowhere Virginia, and started opening up the train cars until they found the idiot passengers automobile, and retrieved the medication.
When boarding the train, they tell you to get everything out of your vehicle, because they won't stop and get items out of your car.
We were stationary for several hours.

Would they land a airplane and open up the cargo bay for a passengers medication? Nope!
What if it was a flight say from the USA to Australia, or the USA to Japan?
A passenger would be shit outta luck.

My only recent Amtrak experience is riding the Acela train from Metro NY to DC; Did that twice a year to attend board meetings for a group I served as a regional Director from 2010-2018.

The Acela is relatively fast, smooth and modern, but it's so regionalized, it isn't a fair comparison.

Did ride standard Amtrak from Fayetteville NC to Newark NJ many times in the late 70's while stationed at Ft Bragg. It was kinda dingy back then, but as it was an overnight ride headed north, I didn't much care. Generally, I slept for most of the trip.

quote:

Originally posted by Tgrshrk99:
Someone in the rail industry explained to me that you can have an excellent rail system for moving freight or for moving people. You really can’t have both. The recent events in OH notwithstanding, the US picked freight ages ago. The investment in track and right of way means there is no going back.

Well, yes. Exactly. You can fly people pretty efficiently, but you can't fly iron ore worth a damn.