> The issue is that Amtrak is a terribly impractical way to get from Chicago to San Francisco You are correct, and that's why most long distance routes don't h

> The issue is that Amtrak is a terribly impractical way to get from Chicago to San Francisco You are correct, and that's why most long distance routes don't have end-to-end riders as the main customers. In 2019, for example, Chicago to/from Emeryville (endpoints of the train) was the 4th most popular city pair. The station with the most people embarking/disembarking is Denver. I suspect end-to-end ridership isn't lower on the Zephyr because it's a big tourist draw for the portion through the Rockies. One of the most salient stats for me is that over half of trip (53%) are less than 500 miles. Trains excel in the too short to fly or too long to take the bus (for me, that's about 2 hours) segment.