I will keep this to a minimum because the links provided will do this topic better justice than I can. I recently read the book Romance of the Rails by Randal O'Toole. It describes how passenger rail doesn't make sense in the modern world with automobiles and air travel. It presents a harsh but true reality, and at first I was a bit reluctant to accept the findings, but this book makes an excellent and well researched case and I recommend you give it a read. The first link will provide a brief summary and the second link is the Amazon page to pruchase it.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/romance-of-the-rails-review-hear-that-lonesomewhistle-11548287880
https://www.amazon.ca/Romance-Rails-Passenger-Trains-Transportation/dp/1944424946
Edit:
To keep on topic, it may be better to continue the discussion here: http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/743/t/284679.aspx
I think the argument you want to start belongs over on the Passenger or Transit forums.
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
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