I agree that east to west and north to south cross-country rail is a novelty. The short haul trains are often useful though. I think the novelty is worth keeping but they should focus on that novelty. I'd like to see them have just one east to west route, say, from SF to NYC, and one route on each coast, and besides that coordinate the short haul trains with the cities/states that are using them, perhaps even letting the cities/states run some of them fully. The short haul trains should be run separately from the novelty trains. The proposal is the opposite, and that's why I think it's not a good one.

For example, I'd like for the train to Miami to skip Orlando and Tampa, and for Brightline to be left to bring service back if it makes economic sense (they're already working on Orlando). If not, there are buses like Megabus and Flixbus. That would shorten the Boston to Miami route quite a bit.