Acela trains aren't diesel and they aren't transcontinental.
Yes, because AMTRAK is a colossal failure, an example of government bloat, and a demonstration of how government intransigence and stupidity will allow an unprofitable enterprise to be allowed to subsist on our tax dollars. An example of what GM and Chrysler will fall to, though they weren't much higher when they went under.
Anyone who tries to improve AMTRAK gets run out of town on a rail, almost literally, as was the case for former AMTRAK head Alex Kummant.
Sadly, the Acela Express only averages 82 mph (Other trains clock with ~46 mph average speed), and due to initial government inanity before AMTRAK was formed, and idiocy after it was formed, AMTRAK still can not go above 79 mph maximum speed on any track, save the Northeast Corridor. That could make AMTRAK actually convenient. AMTRAK also refuses to assert its federal right to take priority over freight trains, and lets the freight trains mock it. Look at the On-Time-Performance assessments on Amtrak's site of any long train route, especially infamous ones like the Empire Builder or the Coast Starlight, and you'll see that the vast majority of delays are caused by the freight trains illegally putting themselves before AMTRAK.
Even without AMTRAK letting itself be trampled upon by the freight companies (though such is rather fitting as the government trampled on the railroads prior to creating AMTRAK, which killed our rail network, tis irony), the venture would still fail due to AMTRAK's own mis-management and deprivation of Congressional funds.
Honestly, AMTRAK needs to scale back and rebuild. AFAIK, they STILL have not rebuilt & started reusing bridges that were taken out on the Gulf Coast by Katrina. When I went cross-country the first time via Amtrak in 2008, they had not. 3 years, and nothing? Dagny Taggart would have a conniption.
On topic, many reviewers deride the film for featuring trains, claiming that "no one would invest money in a train in 2016". Spouting ignorance seems to be a requirement to be involved with Hollywood, as a reliable high-speed train is the most efficient form of transit we have, across the board. The balance of Speed, amount of cargo moved, reliability, and cost would be at levels far above any other form of transit. The book
Atlas Shrugged even hits upon this, further evidence that these people did not read the book
I wanted AMTRAK to be good, I still want them to be good, but their prospects don't look good. Which is vexing, as there are a slew of trips that I wish to take that they would make convenient for me, as their stations are right where I want to go (if they weren't so infernally SLOW). Additionally, I have a beaucoup of AMTRAK reward points, and I'd like to actually use them on AMTRAK.
(On an aside, it distresses me that it costs 1/5th the amount of points to go from DC to Montreal, QB or Boston, MA as it does to go from DC to Raleigh, NC, or Columbus, OH.)
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