There is an interesting/scary interview with Richard Anderson, CEO of Amtrak here:
[
skift.com]
Amongst other things, he mentioned the intention of reducing the number of
long-distance routes: "Probably today, we operate 15 of them, including Empire
Builder across the northern western half of the U.S., the Zephyr from Chicago
to San Francisco, the Southwest Chief, and the Coast Starlight. In an ideal
state, we probably would operate somewhere between five to 10 and instead
focus our efforts and resources on short-haul intercity transportation
because that’s where the demand indicators are for Amtrak."
Depressing stuff. Paul.