Part of the problem pre-Amtrak was a public service/regulated utility requirement to run passenger service whether it made money or not. A few services that were well-patronized and well-managed probably did make money, or at least covered operating cost, or perhaps lost little enough that they could be kept as part of the advertising budget. Most were losers (I know it's about the Amtrak period, but remember the "City of New Orleans" song: 15 cars and 15 restless riders? Not all passenger trains were Super Chiefs, and many really did carry fewer passengers than a bus could). In some cases the losses were significant detractors from the bottom line.

Those were the fully-regulated days, remember? Amtrak lifted the burden of operating passenger service (except for the inconvenience of having to continue making space for a greatly reduced level of it on the railroad), and Staggers greatly reduced the burden of public service enforced by regulation allowing massive disinvestment in branches and alternative lines and reduction of staff.

Returning to the subject of the thread, I hope FEC can do it. Sound feasible - if Desert Xpress thinks they can make money on however many they can convince to make 1/2 of the LA-Vegas trip, maybe FEC can too. Of course, like DX they will probably need some Federal money (loans, remember, not grants) to get the thing built and started if the banks want to charge too much. Note that the "private" projects seem to settle for "higher" speed rail - 120-150 mph - probably because it's easier/cheaper to build/maintain/operate using relatively standardized equipment.