The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midwest, along with the intermediate cities of Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Rochester and Syracuse. New York Central was headquartered in New York City's New York Central Building, adjacent to its largest station, Grand Central Terminal.
The Lake Shore Limited is an overnight passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the Northeastern United States, with sections to New York City and Boston. The central segment of the route runs along the southern shore of Lake Erie. East of Chicago, the Lake Shore Limited follows the former main line of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway to South Bend, Toledo, Cleveland, and Buffalo. From here the train takes the Empire Corridor through Rochester and Syracuse to Albany–Rensselaer station in Rensselaer, New York. At that station, the train divides, with one section continuing to Springfield and Boston in Massachusetts, while the other continues along the Empire Corridor to New York City. The train is scheduled for 19+1⁄2–20+1⁄4 hours for the 959 miles (1,543 km) between Chicago and New York, and 21+1⁄2–22 hours for the 1,018 miles (1,638 km) between Chicago and Boston.
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833, and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the south shore of Lake Erie and across northern Indiana. The line's trackage remains a major rail transportation corridor used by Amtrak passenger trains and several freight lines; in 1998, its ownership was split at Cleveland, Ohio, between CSX Transportation to the east and Norfolk Southern Railway in the west.
Michigan Services are three Amtrak passenger rail routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with the Michigan cities of Grand Rapids, Port Huron, and Pontiac, and stations en route. The group falls under the Amtrak Midwest brand and is a component of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.
The Michigan Central Railroad was originally chartered in 1832 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in the United States and the province of Ontario in Canada. After about 1867 the railroad was controlled by the New York Central Railroad, which later became part of Penn Central and then Conrail. After the 1998 Conrail breakup, Norfolk Southern Railway now owns much of the former Michigan Central trackage.
Central Station was an intercity passenger terminal in downtown Chicago, Illinois, at the southern end of Grant Park near Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue. Owned by the Illinois Central Railroad, it also served other companies via trackage rights. It opened in 1893, replacing Great Central Station, and closed in 1972 when Amtrak rerouted services to Union Station. The station building was demolished in 1974. It is now the site of a redevelopment called Central Station, Chicago.
Michigan Central Station is the historic former main intercity passenger rail station in Detroit, Michigan. Built for the Michigan Central Railroad, it replaced the original depot in downtown Detroit, which had been shuttered after a major fire on December 26, 1913, forcing the still unfinished station into early service. Formally dedicated on January 4, 1914, the station remained open for business until January 6, 1988, when Amtrak service was relocated. The station building consisted of a train depot and a 230-foot office tower with thirteen stories above two mezzanine levels. The tallest rail station in the world at the time of its construction, the Beaux-Arts style architecture was designed by architects who had previously worked on Grand Central Terminal in New York City.
Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza is the main passenger rail and intercity bus station of Toledo, Ohio.
The Kalamazoo Transportation Center is an intermodal complex in downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan. Both Amtrak and Greyhound provide regular service, and the center is also the major downtown transfer hub for Kalamazoo's Metro Transit bus system. It is the second-busiest Amtrak station in Michigan.
The Wolverine is a higher-speed passenger train service operated by Amtrak as part of its Michigan Services. The 304-mile (489 km) line provides three daily round-trips between Chicago and Pontiac, Michigan, via Ann Arbor and Detroit. It carries a heritage train name descended from the New York Central Railroad.
The Pere Marquette is a passenger train operated by Amtrak as part of its Michigan Services on the 176-mile (283 km) route between Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois. It is funded in part by the Michigan Department of Transportation and is train 370 eastbound and train 371 westbound. The westbound train leaves Grand Rapids during the morning rush, and the eastbound train leaves Chicago after the afternoon rush, enabling same-day business travel between the two cities.
Ann Arbor station is a train station in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States that is served by Amtrak's Wolverine, which runs three times daily in each direction between Chicago, Illinois and Pontiac, Michigan, via Detroit.
Dowagiac is a train station in Dowagiac, Michigan, served by Amtrak, the United States' railroad passenger system. The station was built by the Michigan Central Railroad in 1902, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
Hammond–Whiting station is an Amtrak intercity train station in Hammond, Indiana. The station is along the former Pennsylvania Railroad Fort Wayne Line, now owned by Norfolk Southern Railway. North of the station lies the former Baltimore and Ohio and Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad tracks. The station building and parking lot lies on the former New York Central Railroad mainline. Hammond–Whiting opened on September 11, 1982. Until the early 2000s, it was served by all Amtrak service that ran east from Chicago; today, it is served only by two daily Wolverine round trips.
New Buffalo station is a train station in New Buffalo, Michigan, served by Amtrak, the United States' passenger railroad system. The Blue Water stops once daily, and Wolverine (Chicago–Detroit/Pontiac) stops three times daily in each direction.
Jackson station is a historic Amtrak station in Jackson, Michigan, United States. It is served by three daily Wolverine trains between Chicago and Pontiac and a single daily Amtrak Thruway bus between Toledo, Detroit, Jackson, and East Lansing. The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
The Twilight Limited was a named passenger train in the United States which initially operated between Chicago, Illinois, and Detroit, Michigan. The New York Central Railroad introduced the train in 1926, and it continued until the formation of Amtrak in 1971, although it lost its name in 1967. Amtrak renamed the train St. Clair, feeling that the name "Twilight Limited" had undesirable connotations and imagery for a company trying to save passenger rail service. Amtrak revived the name in 1976 for a new train frequency on the Chicago–Detroit corridor, and kept the name until all trains on that corridor were renamed Wolverine in 2004.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Station in Fort Wayne, Indiana, also known as Baker Street Station, is a former passenger rail station in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. The American Craftsman-style station opened to the public March 23, 1914, at a cost of $550,000.
The Wolverine was an international night train that twice crossed the Canada–United States border, going from New York City to Chicago. This New York Central Railroad train went northwest of Buffalo, New York, into Canada, traveled over Michigan Central Railroad tracks, through Windsor, Ontario, reentering the United States, through Detroit's Michigan Central Station, and on to Chicago. At the post-World War II peak of long-distance named trains, there were three other New York Central trains making this unusual itinerary through Southwestern Ontario. In the late 1960s, this was the last remaining train taking this route, failing to survive into the Penn Central era. The name resurfaced on the truncated Detroit–Chicago route with Amtrak's Wolverine.
The Canadian and later, Canadian-Niagara, was the longest running named international train from Chicago to Upper Canada via Detroit, for its first two decades running to Montreal. This overnight train was operated by the Michigan Central Railroad from Chicago to Detroit, and in a pool arrangement, it operated over Canadian Pacific Railway tracks and used the same train number from Detroit eastward. The train would carry a second section, bound, variously for Buffalo or New York City via Buffalo.
