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Amtrak sucks because it's slow as balls. Outside of like 3 or 4 routes in the entire USA, it is almost always the slowest way to travel, even compared to greyhound buses.
I live in Kansas City. And I have taken the Amtrak between KC and St. Louis numerous times over the past 16 years. I've also driven and taken the bus during that time. Back before 2013 or so, I was able to take the MegaBus which was truly the most cost effective way to travel. You'd pay like somewhere between 5 and 20 dollars, and could go one way and it was just as fast as driving a car more or less, yet you'd pay less than you would in gas prices.
The Amtrak however is a different story. It is a comfortable trip, and it's usually never crowded, so you almost always will get 2 entire seats to yourself, if not an entire train car (or maybe like 4 or 5 people in the entire train car). However, it is slow. If there are no extra delays, the train ride to st louis from kc takes at least 4.5 to 5 hours. AT LEAST! And that's really not that bad, especially if you have nowhere to be that day, however, it is slower than driving. In your own car, the drive between KC and STL is 3.5 hours, maybe 4 hours tops if you do the speed limit and don't speed. On top of that, the cost of the ticket one way is usually more than you would pay for the equivalent amount of gasoline. So, the Amtrak is basically slower than driving, but on top of being slower, it also costs more than driving. The only benefit to taking Amtrak is the relaxed nature of the ride.
And it's more worth it now than it was then. Back in 2009 or 2010, there were more frequent delays due to freight train priority. They've mostly done away with this, which makes it better. But back then, there were times I took the Amtrak between KC and STL and it would take 8-9 hours. This was just unacceptable. To pay more money than it would cost in gas, for a trip that takes more than twice as long, just wasn't worth it, even if it was more comfortable.
