The Capitol Limited is a daily Amtrak train between Washington, D.C., and Chicago, running 764 miles (1,230 km) via Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Service began in 1981 and was named after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Capitol Limited which ended in 1971 upon the formation of Amtrak. It carries the Amtrak train numbers 29 and 30, which were previously assigned to the discontinued National Limited.
The Three Rivers was an Amtrak passenger train that ran daily between New York City and Chicago via Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Akron. It started in 1995, replacing the Broadway Limited, and ran until March 7, 2005, when Amtrak cancelled a contract with the United States Postal Service that was specific to the train.
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.
MARC is a commuter rail system in the Washington–Baltimore area. MARC is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and operated under contract by Alstom and Amtrak on track owned by CSX Transportation (CSXT) and Amtrak. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 2,815,900, or about 12,500 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2023, less than pre-COVID-19 pandemic weekday ridership of 40,000.
The Crescent is a daily long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and New Orleans. The 1,377-mile (2,216 km) route connects the Northeast to the Gulf Coast via the Appalachian Piedmont, with major stops in Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; and Birmingham, Alabama.
The Broadway Limited was a passenger train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) between New York City and Chicago. It operated from 1912 to 1995. It was the Pennsylvania's premier train, competing directly with the New York Central Railroad's 20th Century Limited. The Broadway Limited continued operating after the formation of Penn Central (PC) in February 1968, one of the few long-distance trains to do so. PC conveyed the train to Amtrak in 1971, who operated it until 1995. The train's name referred not to Broadway in Manhattan, but rather to the "broad way" of PRR's four-track right-of-way along the majority of its route.
The Cardinal is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York Penn Station and Chicago Union Station via Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Charlottesville, Charleston, Huntington, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. Along with the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited, it is one of three trains linking the Northeast and Chicago. Its 1,146-mile (1,844 km) trip between New York and Chicago takes 281⁄4 hours.
The Silver Meteor is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Miami, Florida. Introduced in 1939 as the first diesel-powered streamliner between New York and Florida, it was the flagship train of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) and one of the flagship trains of its successor, the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL). The train was transferred to Amtrak when it took over intercity passenger rail service in 1971.
The Palmetto is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a 829-mile (1,334 km) route between New York City and Savannah, Georgia, via the Northeast Corridor, Washington, D.C., Richmond, Virginia, Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina. The Palmetto is a shorter version of the Silver Meteor, which continues south to Miami, Florida. From 1996 to 2002 this service was called the Silver Palm. Although currently a day train, the Palmetto is considered a long-distance train by Amtrak and previously provided overnight sleeper service to Florida.
The Spirit of California was a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Los Angeles and Sacramento, California. It operated from 1981 to 1983 with financial support from the State of California. It was the first overnight service between the two cities since the Southern Pacific Railroad discontinued the Lark in 1968 and one of few state-supported Amtrak trains with sleeper service. The train used the Southern Pacific's Coast Line, complementing the Coast Starlight which served the route on a daytime schedule.
Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger cars built by the Budd Company for American company Amtrak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Budd based the Amfleet design on its earlier Metroliner electric multiple unit. An initial order for 57 cars in 1973 to supplement the Metroliners on the Northeast Corridor grew to two orders totaling 642 cars, sufficient to reequip all the services on the Northeast Corridor and many other routes around the United States. The first 492 cars, known as Amfleet I and completed between 1975 and 1977, were designed for short-distance service. A second order of 150 cars, known as Amfleet II and completed between 1980 and 1983, were designed for long-distance service. They were the last intercity passenger cars built by Budd.
The George Washington was a named passenger train of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway running between Cincinnati, Ohio and Washington, D.C. that operated from 1932, the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Washington, to 1974. A section divided from the main train at Gordonsville, Virginia and operated through Richmond to Phoebus, Virginia. From the west, a section originated in Louisville and joined at Ashland.
The National Limited was the premier train of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) on its route between Jersey City, New Jersey and St. Louis, Missouri, with major station stops in Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati, Ohio. It operated from 1925 to 1971. For much of its life it offered exclusive all-Pullman service, and it was the first long-distance train to be entirely air-conditioned. The National Limited was one of many trains discontinued when Amtrak began operations on May 1, 1971. Amtrak revived the name for another New York–St. Louis service which did not use the B&O route.
The Shenandoah was an American named passenger train of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), one of four daily B&O trains operating between Jersey City, New Jersey and Grand Central Station in Chicago, Illinois, via Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from the 1930s to the 1950s. Other B&O trains of that period on the route were the Capitol Limited, Columbian, and the Washington–Chicago Express. An alternate branch originated in Detroit and met with the Chicago part of the train at Deshler, Ohio, south of Toledo.
The West Virginian, later known as the Potomac Turbo and Potomac Special, was a daily passenger train operated by Amtrak between Washington, D.C., and Parkersburg, West Virginia. This route was previously served by the Baltimore & Ohio's (B&O) train of the same name, and was the first of several services in the state of West Virginia established at the behest of US Representative Harley Orrin Staggers, the powerful chair of the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee. This patronage earned the train the derisive sobriquets "Harley's Hornet" and the "Staggers Special".
The James Whitcomb Riley was a passenger train that operated between Chicago, Illinois, and Cincinnati, Ohio, via Indianapolis, Indiana. Originally operated by the New York Central Railroad, it was taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Under Amtrak, it merged with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway's George Washington to become a Chicago-Washington/Newport News train. In 1977, it was renamed the Cardinal, which remains in operation.
The Blue Ridge was a daily Amtrak passenger train that operated between Washington, D.C., and Cumberland, Maryland. Service began in 1973; it was merged into the MARC Brunswick Line commuter rail service in 1986.
The Mountaineer was a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Norfolk, Virginia, and Chicago, Illinois, via Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the first train to use the Norfolk and Western Railway's tracks since the creation of Amtrak in 1971 and followed the route of the Pocahontas, the N&W's last passenger train. Service began in 1975 and ended in 1977. A new train, the Hilltopper, operated over much of the Mountaineer's route but was itself discontinued in 1979.
The Night Owl was a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston, Massachusetts, via New York City. It operated from 1972 to 1995 on an overnight schedule with sleeper service; it was the only such train on the Northeast Corridor. In 1995 Amtrak dropped most individual train names from its Northeast Corridor services and the Night Owl became another NortheastDirect service, but still on an overnight schedule. Amtrak replaced it with the Twilight Shoreliner in 1997.
Cincinnati River Road station was an Amtrak intercity rail station located south of River Road west of downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. It opened in October 1972 to replace the underused Cincinnati Union Terminal, and closed in July 1991 when Amtrak moved service back to the restored Union Terminal.
