Having lived on a college campus 2000-2004 and 06/07, it's my impression kids are too busy rocking out in their Grand Cherokee, Discovery, or Audi that daddy bought them to even realize Amtrak exists. I have no experiance out east, and it sounds like NEC kids take Amtrak to college, but not here.
I had no Amtrak service for undergrad, even though the Cardinal came through town. It stopped twenty minutes down the road in Hamilton Ohio, but that was early morning and I'm not sitting on a desolate platform in Hamilton after dark, waiting for an erratic train.
I now have the Chief, and I love it! I usually fly home and take the train back here. Of course, I just went out and got a dog, so my Amtrak habits are somewhat curtailed... However I have dog friends that love to babysit Hank while I'm out of town. I have no idea how Hank reacts to trains, as we've been pretty busy - we went to watch #3 come into town saturday night, but as everybody knows, that train was kinda late.
Long story short, midwestern kids that do really well in college get good jobs in Chicago and ride the CTA to work - other than that, nobody in Manhattan, Bloomington, or Lawton care about the train. I have seen big crowds at Lafayette waiting for the Cardinal though. It's unreal, because that train could be so late WB getting in that one could drive to Chicago and back twice in the "lateness window".
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.