I used to commute from Bay area and Colorado on the Amtrak to visit family back in SoCal, it has it's charm: I had thought about doing a cooking tour show with a private couch/kitchen model highlighting local produce and cuisine all over the US.
but to be honest, after the 2nd time it was incredibly loathsome experience: it takes way longer than is worth if you value your time and it's incredibly prone to delays that might make your transfers not be there. I got stuck in New Mexico with 20 other people because of some issue with the bus we needed to take to get to the next train and we sat in a run-down town in Raton for 11 hours waiting for someone from Amtrak to sort out our itinerary. Suffice it to say, I'll take Frontier's cramped flight any day unless I seriously have nothing else going on for a few weeks and can enjoy the leisurely pace than trains were meant to be enjoyed as.
I'm surprised that's economical. We did a three day sleeper train (Toronto to Saskatoon) about ten years ago and it was already enormously expensive, like 4 times the cost of flying. Presumably transporting a car is relatively simple compared to actual passengers since it just sits there and doesn't need a seat or meals or a washroom, or its bed turned down, or whatever else. But still, it's adding logistical complexity at both ends.
There was a great TV show about the line that runs up the west coast of India from Kerala to Mumbai. The line that the British didn't build due to the terrain was built by the locals privately and despite the poverty of many people in India, the one profit making service was the train that took the small trucks from the south of India up to Mumbai. Quicker and cheaper for the lorry drivers and profitable for the railway.
I've got family who has taken this route before. They wanted to be in the Northeast for a few weeks, and it made a ton of sense logistically and economically to load up the car, park it on a train, and ride north for the 18 hour trip. For most travel, it may be a toss up, but for a longer stay where you need transport on the other side and want to bring more than a single suitcase, it is a really good option.
Oh I can definitely see the appeal of it, particularly relative to the fly + rent a car on the other end option. I just know long haul passenger train travel in Canada is fabulously expensive, infrequent, and unreliable, so I was pleased to see discussion of an option like this that has been made to work.
Looked just now, and it was around $400 roundtrip for the train seat and another $465 for the car. So, yeah its definitely more expensive than driving, even with the current record high gas prices.
The only people I met in Miami who actually used or had a use for such trains were your typical North-East/Miami winter birds. And it makes complete sense that this particular line is profitable for Amtrak.
