I'm a train buff, so it's ironic that I was reading this yesterday just before the news broke of the Amtrak derailment outside of Philly.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/where-did-amtrak-go-wrong/393137/As a regular rider on the NE Regional and Acela between D.C. and NYC it's always been inexplainable how the US lacks a modern rail system that rivals or exceeds what is available in Europe, Japan, and China. The Atlantic piece does a pretty good job explaining why passenger rail has stagnated in this country.
The key point, IMHO, is that passenger rail operates under a different set of rules from other mass transit systems - nobody in Congress demands that the FAA turn a profit, or that roads are profitable, but they bash Amtrak for not being able to turn a profit.
