Rail is fine on it's own. It just can't be a "replacement" for anything. These systems work because there is competition and the system that does the best job for any part of the requirement gets used.

Meanwhile.. Freight is fully monopolized, Amtrak is a government run monopoly that rents from the Freight people. American rail, out of all of them, is poorly suited for passenger service.

Oh.. and the CEO of Amtrak is appointed by the Secretary of Transportation and must be someone with several years of rail industry executive experience. The position only pays $1/year, but there's up to a (last I checked) $500k/year bonus for meeting certain targets.

In any case.. systems without competition suck. Although, Amtrak sleepers come with a free steak that isn't all that bad. If your train doesn't break down and your service cancelled.