Routes Amtrak shouldn't bring back? (cocaine, cost, financial, Montana)

[GlobalistPotato]

There are some proposed routes that come up from time to time but don't get introduced, mainly due to lack of political support. I guess you might call them a "waste of valuable resources", or quite simply, a "waste of money".
"Waste of valuable resources" is probably a better way to put it, because Amtrak is in a serve equipment shortage, and any new trains are going to require new rolling stock and locomotives. At the same time, Amtrak is going to face steep political pressure over the next few years and is going to have to fight to prevent cutbacks in the system.
(The next part I copied from my post over at Amtrak Unlimited):

Okay, so many of us on here probably agree that trains like the Lone Star (1979) or Desert Wind (1997?) shouldn't have been deleted from the route system, but there's some routes that have really been deserved to be deleted.

And yet, there are those who want to bring back these routes because they serve towns or states that have been left out of the system.

I'm thinking of you, North Coast Hiawatha, you and your $178 per passenger subsidy at the time of cancelation...

"It would be cheaper to buy every Chicago-Seattle rail passenger a free $170 plane ticket and two drinks than it is to operate the Hiawatha." - Brock Adams
Such trains have become cannon-fodder against Amtrak, really.
Yeah. Yet Amtrak recently did a study on bringing it back, and of course Montana wants this train...
Apparently the cost Amtrak is estimating for a daily train is $1 billion.
I'm not saying that this shouldn't ever come back; it's just that in our world of scare political and financial resources for Amtrak, there are a million other routes that would be better than the Hiawatha.
For instance, for that same $1 billion, Amtrak could introduce 4 MSP-CHI trains, including one that goes on to serve Fargo, ND at more convenient hours.
Or for $750 million of that $1 billion, we could just pay off Union Pacific and introduce a daily Sunset Limited and have the rest of the $250 million be used for reinstating the NOL-MIA section of the Sunset.
Or for $1 billion, there could be real service between Dallas and Houston.
Or for $1 billion, Amtrak could put that money towards building the new Portal Tunnels under the Hudson River.
Or for $1 billion, there are other routes that can be improved in various ways.

Etc, etc.
Are there any routes that shouldn't be brought back or introduced, even if you're supportive of Amtrak or improved passenger rail?

I personally support Amtrak and improved passenger rail, but I don't want it to make stupid decisions that actual hurts its political position.

[pvande55]

I always had a personal dislike of the late Brock Adams, who was later Washington Senator before being brought down by a sex scandal. Maybe he was Carter's personal axe-man, but he presided over one of the biggest slashings of our national rail system. The Wall Street Journal proclaimed him the biggest disappointment of the Carter administration. That's saying a lot considering Carter also had cocaine-snorting Hamilton Jordan and bank ********* Bert Lance.