@kritiper “Amtrak is a coast-to-coast kind of a thing.”
And that’s the problem. Nobody wants to take a train to get across the country. Flying is much quicker, and likely cheaper too. The only reason to ride the train cross-country is for the romanticism of taking a train across the nation. Because of this Amtrak bleeds money, but they must maintain cross-country service. Where Amtrak does well, and can even operate at a profit, is in shorter regional service. Like in my home state, Illinois, the line that connects Chicago, Champaign and Carbondale is one of their most profitable lines.
“Also, the rails through Las Vegas are most likely a single set of tracks used more extensively for freight trains that would greatly slow down a passenger train like Amtrak, if it were to go through there.”
Actually, outside of the DC-Boston corridor Amtrak doesn’t own much rail and leases trackage rights from the freight carriers. So most Amtrak trains do run on rails that carry freight trains.