Ok. So we agree Amtrak did not save the railroads.
The LDT network had been so cut by the time PC announced they wanted to cut all service west of Buffalo and Chicago it would have been gone by 1975. It wasn't the railroads lobbying for NRPC, it was government trying to stem the tide that would engulf the meager remains of LDT service particularly as a result of the mail cuts - naturally imposed by government in the first place.
You pine for all that "competitive" service between Chicago and Omaha. Find me customers that want to pay for six sets of infrastructure, six law departments, six accounting departments, etc. sure, they would love to play off six against each other, but that's a very short term gain as the 60's and 70's showed us.
Oh, the small shipper. Just ride the train from Wilmington to Newark. You will see their remains for mile after mile. Run off by PRR, PC, CR, etc?
No.
They moved first south, then Mexico, and then beyond.
Well, let's find new small shippers is the cry! Ten years ago, the cost of a new mainline switch in CTC was close to a million dollars with signal work. Before PTC. Just the switch, not the Spur. Lots of small shippers will line up for that, or err, maybe opt for intermodal?
Finally we get to the deregulation issue. You are of course unhappy with the way railroads failed to use their opportunity. Confidently predict doom. We will await the outcome.
Meanwhile, unlike the airlines, the railroads navigated their way through the deregulation consolidation issue without first going bankrupt and dumping pension obligations.
As to the railroads "wanting" Amtrak, what they wanted was Amtrak gone in two years. Their first appointment to the Amtrak board was Lou Menk. Great friend of the passenger train.
The legislation also provided for Amtrak to pay their share of capital expense. The railroads forgot that no present Congress can obligate a future Comgress and two years later Comgress said this railroad capital is just way too expensive and unilaterally changed the deal.