this is a well-written, balanced article featuring a journey diary and good background information on the past, present and future of railways. i was pleased with it both as a traveller who prefers trains over coach cars and planes, and also as someone who is interested in the wider questions of public utility / private utility and direct profits / indirect benefits.

the author frequently compares the situation in the US with that in Europe. well, coming from Europe, I have to recommend revisiting the topic in a more ambiguous way.
Europe does struggle with its railways. efficiency is one huge issue: companies are constantly shutting down shorter, local lines. major focus is on long, international (transcontinental) connections.
the issue of rail maintenance emerges in countries where both private and public companies are operating.
and one still has to consider additional problems in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe where marketisation is still an on-going and very much uncertain process.

while the article pictures railways on the European continent as first-class service - clean, fast and affordable - experiences might falsify these claims once you get off France's TGV.