As a railfan, I think Amtrak needs to be privatized. I believe Amtrak would be successful like Conrail was. We might have a regional service... The Northeast from Maine to North Carolina to Chicago. Maybe 3 national routes...
The gov't has been trying to get rid of AMTRAK since Nixon, but nobody has been crazy enough to bid once they look at the cost structure/balance sheet. When normal businesses have problems like AMTRAK, they A.) "Cut costs" or B.) "Raise prices". AMTRAK instead chooses option C.) "Steal money from taxpayers and profitable businesses."
There is plenty of demand for trains, at least on the Northeast Corridor. "Could" AMTRAK ever make a profit? Greyhound seems to make a profit and it also seems that transporting people around with smaller buses would be a lot more labor-intensive than transporting them in trains.