I would guarantee you that if my wife and son were on a train that was stuck on a busy mainline for ten hours, with no heat, no food, no restrooms...I would never hear the end of "I will never, EVER, take a train again!"

If that is whining...exactly what is the threshold before it becomes unacceptable? I would think that the majority of Americans would find that experience to be unacceptable to them - especially on a busy Amtrak corridor route, at a minimum some locomotive/train should have been located to tow them to a station to let them deboard to a warm station with food service and restrooms.

Maybe Amtrak should be required to follow the same exact standards that airlines are now required to follow - standards that were enacted into law due to massive complaints from the public. How does Amtrak somehow get a free pass just because it's a train? I fail to see how it is an infrastructure problem - providing HEP is basic maintenance, and most of Amtrak's locomotives are relatively new. If Delta can keep 40 year old DC-9s in service...