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Chuck, your question is the exact opposite of what most people ask. The majority of opinion that is opposed to long distance trains argues that they are ONLY suited to leisure travel and poorly suited to business travel. I would never suggest that trains are the best way to travel in any situation (and neither does NARP, by the way). The decision to choose the train, car, boat or plane needs to be answered by individual travelers in regards to their own preferences, desires, budgets, and schedules. (That is actually NARP's official position, as well as my own). So I would not presume to choose the best way for others to travel, even as a generality. In order to determine an appropriate route network, it is not necessary to know why people might choose the train, and  it is really none of our business what they do at their destination. We only need to know how many people would use it if it were available. The fact is that I have met people on long distance trains traveling for leisure, business, and the oft forgotten category of personal business (attending family events like weddings, trips to and from college, visiting/caring for elderly family members, that sort of thing). I can't find the data at hand, but people do track these things, not for justifying the existence of a train, but for targeting their marketing to those most likely to use the train. I recall reading that most of Amtrak's long distance travelers are divided almost equally between the leisure and personal business categories, with commercial business travelers being a relatively small, but not insignificant, percentage. True, I don't see too many families on trains, and you may be right that they are priced out of that market. But families don't constitute the whole of the traveling public. I most often see singles and couples, and we are many. For my wife and I the Coast Starlight is the most convenient and economical way to get from our house in California to my mother's house in Oregon. We could drive, with an overnight in a motel, but the time is unproductive. We could fly, but the cost is about the same as Amtrak and the nearest airport to my mother is over an hour away not including check in times, etc. (the train station is ten minutes away and check in times are minimal).Because travelers are individuals, not averages, I believe people should have a choice of transportation options so that people can choose what works best for them, for their schedule, for their budget, for their purpose.
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