[ghaff]

Amtrak is very popular on certain routes, predominantly in the Northeast Corridor. And, in fact, those routes are being upgraded. But poor people certainly don't use it. They take something like Megabus. And the money Amtrak makes in the northeast covers, though not entirely, a lot of long haul routes that aren't competitive with air.

[microcolonel]

Sure, if AmTrak restructured around a lack of federal subsidies for lines in the red, the Northeast Corridor (possibly incl. Acela Express) would clearly remain in operation. It's just that a major part of the network is composed of routes where the subsidy exceeds the fare, and the fare is still too high for most people to consider.

Also, not really sure why the federal government is subsidizing $10-40+ one-way fares (receiving an average of 25 dollars in federal subsidy) as "commuter" service, even in the less-bad Capitol Corridor.