Oh, definitely, but it nearly doesn't exist in other parts of the country (such as my home state of Nebraska). Back there, even with the headquarters of Union Pacific in town, Amtrak was never taken seriously as a long distance option because of its unreliability and significant gaps in coverage.
Don't forget the rails-to-trails programs that gave us so many cross-country bike routes.
But yeah, I think that selling & converting rail routes is shortsighted, too. Rail travel could actually return to being a desirable option in the future, but they'll have to forge new routes to make it happen -- and might not even approach the amount of coverage that existed before.
For poops n' grins, I checked on a trip from Omaha, NE, to Devils Lake, ND (I looked for a South Dakota destination because we have family there, but there are none on Amtrak). Here's the rundown:
Omaha to Sacramento,
CA
: 43h 32m
Sacramento to Klamath Falls, OR: 8h 16m
Klamath Falls to Pasco, WA: 11h
Pasco to Devils Lake: 24h 35m
.... are you kidding me??
Driving:
579 miles, about 8 1/2 hours.
That's a little under twenty gallons of gas in my car, costing under a hundred bucks. It would cost me $700-800+ via Amtrak and half a week of travel -- assuming that there are no delays causing missed connections. Never mind that I can actually fit four people in my car and not use any more gas...