I took a look at the current
refund and cancellation policy, and there's currently no mention of the refund option if a long-distance train is more than two hours late (I think short-distance trains had either 30-minute or one hour late rules.) I'm not sure how long ago that was removed (or if it's now referenced elsewhere.) I know a couple months ago I was able to change my ticket to a later date without any fees (and that was with using a companion coupon.)
That said, if that policy is no longer written or able to be quoted, then I likely won't take Amtrak for all but the least time-sensitive trips I take (which are rare.) The Empire Builder has far too sporadic on-time performance for me to consider it without at least a refund fallback if it's significantly late. If a trip is also completely nonrefundable or nonchangeable, that just nails the coffin for those fares (and, honestly, considering Amtrak for those trips as driving or taking the bus becomes cheaper and more reliable at that point.)
It might be time for Congress to start having consumer protections for Amtrak similar to the airlines. When Amtrak had pretty lenient ticket policies, it didn't seem necessary, but there needs to be some protection there for issues that are outside of the customer's control. If Amtrak doesn't seem willing to do that themselves, then they need to be forced to have at least basic protections (like refunds if someone doesn't want to travel due to a late train!) Goodwill measures aren't enough - they need to be published policies that people can easily use/quote and rely on in order to be useful.