Capitol Limited (Amtrak train)

For the Amtrak service in California, see Capitol Corridor.

Capitol Limited
The Capitol Limited emerges from the Graham Tunnel and crosses the Potomac River in Magnolia, West Virginia.
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Operating
Locale	Eastern United States
First service	10/1/1981
Current operator(s)	Amtrak
Average ridership	621 daily 226,597 total (FY11)
Route
Start	Washington, D.C.
No. of intermediate stops	14
End	Chicago, Illinois
Distance travelled	764 mi (1,230 km)
Average journey time	18 hours
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	29 (Washington, D.C.–Chicago), 30 (Chicago–Washington, D.C.)
On-board services
Class(es)	Coach and First
Seating arrangements	Airline-style coach seating
Sleeping arrangements	Superliner Roomette (2 beds) Family Bedroom (4 beds) Superliner Bedroom (2 beds) Superliner Bedroom Suite (4 beds) Superliner Accessible Bedroom (2 beds)
Catering facilities	Dining car with full china service
Observation facilities	Sightseer Lounge Car
Baggage facilities	Checked baggage available at selected stations
Technical
Gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Track owner(s)	CSX and NS
Route map Legend Chicago Union Station Illinois/Indiana border Gary Valparaiso South Bend Elkhart Fort Wayne Waterloo Indiana/Ohio border Lima Toledo Sandusky Crestline Elyria Cleveland Lake Shore Limited diverges Canton Alliance Ohio/Pennsylvania border Pittsburgh McKeesport Connellsville Pennsylvania/Maryland border Cumberland Maryland/West Virginia border Martinsburg Harpers Ferry West Virginia/Maryland border Rockville Maryland/District of Columbia border Washington, D.C.

Amtrak's Capitol Limited is one of the railroad's two routes connecting Washington, D.C. to Chicago, running 764 miles (1,230 km) via Cleveland, Ohio (the other is the Cardinal via Cincinnati). 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.

During fiscal year 2011, the Capitol Limited carried over 225,000 passengers, a 3.5% increase over FY2010. The train had a total revenue of $20,312,544 in FY2011, a 9.3% increase from FY2010.

History

On October 1, 1981, Amtrak inaugurated its Capitol Limited. It ran over the same route as the B&O's train east of Pittsburgh, but west of Pittsburgh it ran combined with the Chicago-New York Broadway Limited over the former Pennsylvania Railroad's Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway. Its numbers, 440 (eastbound) and 441 (westbound), were derived from the Broadway Limited's 40 and 41 and the new train also used Heritage Fleet equipment. The new train replaced the Broadway Limited's former Washington section which had diverged at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In late 1984, the Capitol Limited re-equipped with new Amfleet II coaches but also lost its full diner east of Pittsburgh. Beginning with the October 26, 1986 timetable Amtrak split up the Capitol Limited and Broadway Limited. The former received new numbers, 29 and 30 (which formerly belonged to the defunct National Limited), and a later schedule. The Capitol Limited continued to operate over the same route. With the change the Capitol Limited regained a full diner east of Pittsburgh, which it had lost in 1984.

On November 12, 1990 trains were rerouted west of Alliance, Ohio due to Conrail's desire to abandon part of the former PFW&C in northwestern Indiana; the Capitol Limited now uses the former Pennsylvania Railroad Cleveland and Pittsburgh (C&P) line north from Alliance through Hudson, Ohio to Cleveland route. The Broadway Limited and its successor the Three Rivers were re-routed over the B&O's Chicago-Pittsburgh route. In October 1994 Amtrak, with great fanfare, relaunched the Capitol Limited with a new bilevel Superliner II consist.

On February 16, 1996, an eastbound rush-hour MARC commuter train headed to Washington Union Station collided with the westbound Capitol Limited near Georgetown Junction on a snow-covered stretch of track just west of Silver Spring, Maryland. Eleven people died aboard the MARC train in the accident. Three died of injuries suffered in the impact; the rest were killed by smoke and flames. The MARC engineer and two conductors were among the dead.

Through cars

Between 1984 and 1986 and again from 1991 to 1993 the Capitol Limited exchanged a Chicago-Miami coach with the New York-Miami Silver Star at Washington, D.C.

During 1997 and part of 1998, Amtrak operated the Capitol Limited in conjunction with the Southwest Chief, a daily Los Angeles-Chicago service. The two trains used the same Superliner equipment sets, and passengers traveling on both trains could remain aboard during the layover in Chicago. Originally announced in 1996, Amtrak planned to call this through service the "National Chief" with its own numbers (15/16), although the name and numbers were never used. Amtrak dropped the practice with the May 1998 timetable.

This route was mentioned amongst five others in the July 2010 issue of Trains Magazine as slated for performance improvement, and as part of its federally mandated analysis of the worst-performing long-distance routes, Amtrak determined that reinstating a through-car connection with the Pennsylvanian would result in the highest gain in monetary and customer service measurements of possible options. To implement this, Amtrak plans to operate a Viewliner sleeper car, an Amfleet cafe car and two Amfleet coaches between Chicago and New York via the Capitol Limited and Pennsylvanian beginning sometime in 2011. Trains Magazine picked up on this in their January 2011 issue, citing that a switch would be re-installed to give the thru-cars access to parallel track. Also cited was the consist switch that would take place (shuffling sleeper and coach positions so that the transition sleeper was in the rear), an eight hour layover on Sundays due to the Pennsylvanian's 1:20p departure (since eliminated), and the lack of Viewliner sleepers to accommodate the service (also cited are that the new ones wouldn't roll out until 2012 at the very least).

Former stops

The Capitol Limited's original routing west of Pittsburgh included stops in Canton, Ohio, Crestline, Ohio, Lima, Ohio, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Valparaiso, Indiana and Gary, Indiana. Amtrak dropped Gary as a station stop on April 28, 1985. On April 27, 1986 Amtrak added Warsaw, Indiana, located between Valparaiso and Fort Wayne. All these cities lost service when Amtrak re-routed the Capitol Limited north through Toledo on November 11, 1990. For a year, a dedicated bus connection was offered between Fort Wayne and Waterloo, Indiana.

Between March 2, 1982 and April 7, 1991 the Capitol Limited stopped in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, located in the Monongahela Valley southeast of Pittsburgh. At the time the Port Authority of Allegheny County operated the "PATrain" commuter rail between McKeesport and downtown Pittsburgh. The Port Authority ended the service in 1989, citing low ridership. Amtrak followed suit a year later, noting that on average one passenger boarded at McKeesport per trip. Station platform track was subsequently removed with the facility becoming an all-bus terminal.

Route details

Between Washington and Pittsburgh, it mostly follows the historic B&O route along narrow river valleys hemmed in by steep slopes, including the upper Potomac, Youghiogheny, and Monongahela Rivers. Rail trails parallel much of this route, often on the opposite banks. The route straightens and levels out from Ohio onward.

The Capitol Limited operates over the following CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway trackage:

• CSX Metropolitan Subdivision, Cumberland Subdivision, Cumberland Terminal Subdivision, Keystone Subdivision, Pittsburgh Subdivision, and P&W Subdivision, Washington to Pittsburgh
• NS Pittsburgh Line and Fort Wayne Line, Pittsburgh to Alliance
• NS Cleveland Line, Alliance to Cleveland
• NS Chicago Line, Cleveland to Chicago

Train consist

A typical train on the Capitol Limited route includes the following normal consist between Chicago and Washington, DC as of March 2010 powered by two and sometimes three P42DC locomotives.

Capitol Limited
Heritage Fleet baggage car
1 Superliner Transition Dorm
2 Superliner Sleepers
1 Superliner Diner
1 Superliner Sightseer Lounge
2 Superliner Coaches
1 Superliner Baggage Coach

Station stops

State/Province	Town/City	Station	Connections
District of Columbia	Washington	Washington Union Station	Amtrak: Cardinal, Carolinian, Crescent, Acela Express, Northeast Regional, Palmetto, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter, Thruway Motorcoach to Charlottesville, Virginia MARC Train: Brunswick Line, Camden Line, Penn Line Metro: Red Line Metrobus: 96, D4, D6, D8, 97, X6, X8 VRE: Manassas Line, Fredericksburg Line
Maryland	Rockville	Rockville	MARC Train: Brunswick Line Metro: Red Line Metrobus: T2, Q1, Q2, Q4, Q5, Q6 Ride On: 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 52, 54, 55, 56, 59, 63, 81, T2
West Virginia	Harpers Ferry	Harpers Ferry	MARC Train: Brunswick Line
	Martinsburg	Martinsburg	MARC Train: Brunswick Line PanTran: Blue, Red and Green routes
Maryland	Cumberland	Cumberland	Amtrak: Thruway Motorcoach to BWI Rail Station Allegany County Transit: RedLne (Trip 1), WhiteLne
Pennsylvania	Connellsville	Connellsville	Amtrak: Thruway Motorcoach to BWI Rail Station
	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh Union Station	Amtrak: Pennsylvanian Port Authority: 3L, 3M, 42S, 58C, 58P, 58V, 63A, 63B, 68A, 68B, 68D, 68F, 68G, 68J, 73B, 78A, 78C, 78E, 83B, 88A, 93A, AV, AVN, EBA, EBS, EBX, G, GR, HP, LP, P, PG, T, U, W
Ohio	Alliance	Alliance	SARTA: 130, 131, 135, 136, 139
	Cleveland	Cleveland Lakefront Station	Amtrak: Lake Shore Limited RTA Rapid Transit: Blue Line, Green Line
	Elyria	Elyria	Amtrak: Lake Shore Limited
	Sandusky	Sandusky	Amtrak: Lake Shore Limited
	Toledo	Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza	Amtrak: Lake Shore Limited, Thruway Motorcoach to Detroit and East Lansing, Michigan TARTA: 31G, 31H, 31X, 32, 34, 34H
Indiana	Waterloo	Waterloo	Amtrak: Lake Shore Limited
	Elkhart	Elkhart	Amtrak: Lake Shore Limited Interurban Trolley: Elkhart-Goshen and Concord routes
	South Bend	South Bend	Amtrak: Lake Shore Limited, TRANSPO: 2
Illinois	Chicago	Chicago Union Station	Amtrak: Blue Water, California Zephyr, Cardinal and Hoosier State, Carl Sandburg, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Hiawatha, Illini, Illinois Zephyr, Lake Shore Limited, Lincoln Service, Pere Marquette, Saluki, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle, Wolverine, Thruway Motorcoach to Louisville, Kentucky, Madison, Wisconsin and Rockford, Illinois CTA: 14, 19, 20, X20, 38, 56, 60, 120, 122, 124, 127, 129, 157 Metra: BNSF Railway, HC, MD-N, MD-W, NCS, SWS

Further reading

• Mike Schafer, Amtrak's atlas, Trains June 1991
• Welsh, Joe, "Baltimore and Ohio's Capitol Limited and National Limited", Voyager Press, 2007

External links

• Amtrak - Capitol Limited