Lots of good points made here, but the reality is that almost nobody, in any business, makes money picking passengers up in one place and taking them to another. Not even most of the airlines. Cruise ships don't qualify, because they're effectively mobile hotels-casinos-cocktail lounges.

In his seminal work "Who Shot the Passemger Train," David P. Morgan concluded that the answer was "everybody," pointing out that railroads were unique in transportation in that they paid for their own infrastructure, and that private capital, which for some reason investors expect a return on, could not compete with taxpayer provided money.

All that said, a couple of the Class I's have lately made offhanded suggestions that they might be agreeable to hosting private passenger service again, if the numbers made sense. I take that to mean "Uncle Sam helps us add capacity so we can run more freight trains" or perhaps tax credits as one of the commenters posted above. If such could be worked out, I think it would probably be a better operation than Amtrak is today.

As to what could bring enough people back to the rails to make it financially attractive to the railroads, of course the fact that flying is such an unpleasant experience these days doesn't hurt. But what else could be done? I think that borrowing a page from the cruise industry's playbook could yield results. Comfort and scenery are obviously areas where trains have other forms of transportation beat. Why not a casino car on long distance trains? Live entertainment in form of a piano bar, or maybe a small club where 18-20 people could see a comic doing standup? Aspiring entertainers are desperate for any venue where they could get noticed, and could be paid in the form of transportation, meals, and maybe a roomette. How about setting aside part of a car for use as a spa, where one could get a massage? Or an onboard gift store?

Or how about corporate sponsorships? Everything these days is "something or other, brought to you by..." so why not give advertisers the chance to pitch their products? Maybe have one of the national casual dining chains run the food service? On a recent trip to San Diego, my wife and I noticed lots of San Diego Chargers fans in our car on the way to the game. This sure looks to me like a chance for some co-op advertising that would put butts in the seats both in the stadium and on the trains.

Anyway, back to the cruise ship paradigm. Ocean liners are no longer thought of as public transportation, but they're still around, because someone figured out a way to package and sell the shipboard experience. I think a little out-of-the-box thinking could attract people back to the trains in greater numbers than one might expect.