Cardinal (train)

Cardinal
Eastbound Cardinal stopped in Prince, WV
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Locale	Midwestern United States
Predecessor	James Whitcomb Riley
First service	October 30, 1977
Current operator(s)	Amtrak
Average ridership	354 per train 110,923 total (FY11)
Route
Start	Chicago, Illinois
End	New York City
Distance travelled	1,146 miles (1,844 km)
Service frequency	Thrice-weekly
Train number(s)	50/51
On-board services
Class(es)	First class (sleeper) and reserved coach
Seating arrangements	Airline-style
Sleeping arrangements	Roomettes and bedrooms
Catering facilities	Diner/lounge
Baggage facilities	Checked baggage available at selected stations
Technical
Gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Track owner(s)	Amtrak, CSX, BB, NS, CN, UP, and Metra
Route map Legend Chicago IL/IN border Dyer Rensselaer Lafayette Peru Crawfordsville Marion Indianapolis Muncie Connersville Richmond IN/OH border Hamilton (discontinued) Cincinnati OH/KY border Maysville South Portsmouth-South Shore Catlettsburg(discontinued) Ashland KY/WV border Huntington Charleston Montgomery Thurmond Prince Hinton Alderson White Sulphur Springs WV/VA border Clifton Forge Staunton Crescent to New Orleans Charlottesville Culpeper Manassas Alexandria VA/DC border Washington, D.C. DC/MD border Baltimore MD/DE border Wilmington DE/PA border Philadelphia PA/NJ border Trenton Newark NJ/NY border New York

The Cardinal is a congressionally mandated passenger train route operated by Amtrak, connecting New York Penn Station with Chicago Union Station three days a week via Philadelphia; Wilmington, Delaware; Washington, D.C.; Charlottesville, Virginia; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Indianapolis, Indiana. The length of the route is 1,146 miles (1,844 km) for a travel time, end-to-end, of 26.5 hours. The Hoosier State provides service the other four days on the 196-mile (315 km) section from Chicago to Indianapolis.

During fiscal year 2011, the Cardinal carried over 110,000 passengers, a 3.6% increase over FY2010. The train had a total revenue of $7,097,809 in FY2011, an 11.3% increase over FY2010.

History

Main articles: James Whitcomb Riley (train) and George Washington (train)

The Cardinal is the successor of several previous trains, primarily the New York Central/Penn Central James Whitcomb Riley and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) George Washington. The James Whitcomb Riley was a daytime all-coach train which operated between Chicago and Cincinnati (via Indianapolis), while the George Washington was a C&O sleeper which ran east from Cincinnati to Washington, DC and Newport News, Virginia. Up until the late 1960s the Riley would carry the Washington's sleeper cars between Cincinnati and Chicago. Both routes survived until the formation of Amtrak in 1971.

Amtrak, upon its 1971 commencement of operations, kept service mostly identical at first. Through Washington-Chicago and Newport News-Chicago coaches began operating July 12, and a through sleeping car began September 8. Throughout the 1970s Amtrak would drop the George Washington name re-route the train off the rapidly deteriorating Penn Central track in Indiana. The Newport News section ended in 1976, replaced by the New York—Newport News Colonial.

The James Whitcomb Riley was renamed the Cardinal on October 30, 1977, as the cardinal was the state bird of all six states through which it ran. But the train was subjected to more than just a name change in the 1970s. Owing to the poor quality of the Penn Central trackage in Indiana, the train was rerouted numerous times, first over various Penn Central/Conrail routings, and then in 1980 being shifted to the former Baltimore and Ohio route via Cottage Grove, Indiana.

The Cardinal was discontinued September 30, 1981 (by then having been extended to New York from Washington) and brought back by Congressional mandate on January 8, 1982. Upon its return, the Cardinal was brought back on yet another new Indiana route, the former Chesapeake and Ohio route via Richmond and Muncie. This arrangement lasted until April 27, 1986, when the train was finally moved to its current route via Indianapolis.

Hoosier State

Main articles: Hoosier State (train) and Kentucky Cardinal (Amtrak)

With the Indianapolis re-route the Cardinal began operating jointly with the Chicago—Indianapolis Hoosier State, an arrangement which continues, off and on, to the present. The Hoosier State ran to Indianapolis on the four days of the week on which the Cardinal did not operate. This pattern ended on October 25, 1987, then resumed again on July 19, 1998. On December 17, 1999 Amtrak extended the Hoosier State to Jeffersonville, Indiana (and later to Louisville, Kentucky) and renamed the train the Kentucky Cardinal. This new train was a daily service, and on days when the Cardinal operated the two trains ran combined between Indianapolis and Chicago. Amtrak discontinued the Kentucky Cardinal on July 4, 2003.

Future plans

In the July 2010 issue of Trains magazine, the Cardinal was noted as being one of five routes under consideration for performance improvement. For the Cardinal, the proposed changes include:

• Daily operation from tri-weekly
• Conversion back to Superliner equipment
• Changing the western terminus to St. Louis

In addition, Railfan and Railroad magazine suggested that the train be rerouted to St. Louis as well, with a decoupled section or diesel multiple units headed towards Chicago.

In early October 2010, Amtrak released a report detailing plans to increase the Cardinal's service from three trains a week to daily service, as well as increasing the train's on-time performance and food service. The January 2011 issue of Trains later revealed that that Amtrak would scrap re-routing and Superliner conversion and instead adopt not only daily service, but also purchasing dome cars to be used along the Chicago-D.C. portion of the trip. Furthermore, the routing into Chicago Union Station would be changed and station platforms along the route containing coal dust would be scrubbed and cleaned.

However, obstacles to a daily Cardinal persist. In its January 2012 issue, Trains magazine reported that due to a lack of sidings long enough to accommodate long CSX trains of of empty coal hoppers, there is insufficient capacity on Buckingham Branch trackage to support a daily passenger train. This problem likewise applies to the future Greenbrier Presidential Express train, which would also traverse that trackage on a weekly basis. The Buckingham Branch requires outside funding to expand these sidings before allowing additional service.

Train consist

In the early 1990s, the Cardinal ran with the usual Amtrak long-distance consist of two F40s/E60 plus several MHC and material handling baggage cars, followed by several Amfleet coaches, an Amfleet lounge, a Heritage diner, two or three Heritage 10-6 sleepers, a slumbercoach, and finally, a baggage dormitory car. Following the delivery of the Superliner II fleet, however, the Cardinal was re-equipped with Superliner cars in 1995. As a result, its route was truncated to end in Washington D.C. as the Superliner equipment could not run into Penn Station, New York, due to low clearances there. With the Superliner equipment, the consist would usually be two Superliner sleeping cars, a diner, a Sightseer Lounge, a baggage coach, and a coach.

In 2002, two derailments on other routes took numerous Superliner cars out of service. Because of this, insufficient Superliner equipment was available for use on the Cardinal. The Cardinal was re-equipped with a consist of single-level long-distance cars, including dining, lounge, sleeping, and dormitory cars. Subsequent fleet shortages shortened the Cardinal further, and at one point, the train was running with two or three Amfleet II coaches and a combined diner-lounge car. While the sleeping car was later restored, the Cardinal has not had a dormitory car or a diner since. Similarly, though the baggage car was also removed, it was restored in response to an upturn in patronage in mid-2010. The Cardinal currently runs with a single General Electric P42DC engine, a Heritage fleet baggage car, a single Viewliner sleeping car, three (sometimes four during peak travel periods) Amfleet II long-distance coaches, and a single diner-lounge car.

Route details

The Cardinal operates over Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, Buckingham Branch Railroad, Canadian National Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, and Metra trackage:

• Amtrak Northeast Corridor, New York to Washington
• CSX RF&P Subdivision, Washington to Alexandria
• NS Washington District, Alexandria to Orange
• BB Orange Subdivision and North Mountain Subdivision, Orange to Clifton Forge
• CSX Alleghany Subdivision, New River Subdivision, Kanawha Subdivision, Russell Subdivision, Northern Subdivision, Cincinnati Subdivision, Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision, Indianapolis Subdivision, Indianapolis Terminal Subdivision, Crawfordsville Branch Subdivision, and Monon Subdivision, Clifton Forge to Munster
• CN Elsdon Subdivision, Munster to Thornton
• UP Villa Grove Subdivision, Thornton to 81st Street
• Metra SouthWest Service, 81st Street to Chicago

Station stops

State/Province	Town/City	Station	Connections
Illinois	Chicago	Chicago Union Station	Amtrak: Blue Water, Capitol Limited, Carl Sandburg, California Zephyr, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Hiawatha Service, Hoosier State, Illini, Illinois Zephyr, Lake Shore Limited, Lincoln Service, Pere Marquette, Saluki, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle, Wolverine, Thruway Motorcoach CTA Buses: 1, 7, 14, 19, 20, X20, X28, 56, 60, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 128, 129, 130, 151, 156, 157, 192 CTA Subway Stops: Clinton Blue Line, Quincy Brown, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines Megabus: M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M7 Metra: North Central Service, Milwaukee District/North Line, Milwaukee District/West Line, BNSF Railway Line, Heritage Corridor, SouthWest Service
Indiana	Dyer	Dyer Amtrak Station	EasyGo Lake Transit: Red Route (at Main/Calumet intersection)
	Rensselaer	Rensselaer Amtrak station	None
	Lafayette	Lafayette Amtrak Station	Greyhound Lines CityBus: 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 4A, 4B, 5, 6A, 6B, 7
	Crawfordsville	Crawfordsville Station	None
	Indianapolis	Indianapolis station	Amtrak: Thruway Motorcoach (Burlington Trailways) IndyGo: Route 16
	Connersville	Connersville station	None
Ohio	Cincinnati	Cincinnati Union Terminal	SORTA: Route 1
Kentucky	Maysville	Maysville station	Maysville Transit
	South Shore	South Portsmouth-South Shore	None
	Ashland	Ashland Transportation Center	Greyhound Lines ABS: All routes
West Virginia	Huntington	Huntington Amtrak station	Tri-State Transit Authority: 2, 4, 5, 6, 10
	Charleston	Charleston Amtrak station	KRT: Route 18
	Montgomery	Montgomery station	None
	Thurmond	Thurmond station
	Prince	Prince depot
	Hinton	Hinton Amtrak Station
	Alderson	Alderson station
	White Sulphur Springs	White Sulphur Springs station
Virginia	Clifton Forge	Clifton Forge station
	Staunton	Staunton Amtrak station	Staunton Free Trolley: Green Route CATS: 250 Connector (at Staunton Visitor Center)
	Charlottesville	Charlottesville Union Station	Amtrak: Crescent, Northeast Regional, Thruway Motorcoach to Richmond, Washington D.C. Greyhound Lines CAT: T, 7
	Culpeper	Culpeper	Amtrak: Crescent, Northeast Regional
	Manassas	Manassas	Amtrak: Crescent, Northeast Regional VRE: Manassas Line PRTC: Manassas Metro Direct, OmniLink Manassas
	Alexandria	Alexandria Union Station	Amtrak: Crescent, Northeast Regional, Silver Meteor, Silver Star VRE: Fredericksburg Line, Manassas Line Metro: Blue Line, Yellow Line
District of Columbia	Washington	Washington Union Station	Amtrak: Capitol Limited, Carolinian, Crescent, Palmetto, Northeast Regional, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter, Thruway Motorcoach to Charlottesville, Virginia MARC Train: Brunswick Line, Camden Line, Penn Line Metro: Red Line Metrobus Loudoun County Commuter Bus OmniRide VRE: Manassas Line, Fredericksburg Line
Maryland	Baltimore	Baltimore Penn Station	Amtrak: Carolinian, Crescent, Palmetto, Northeast Regional, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter MARC Train: Penn Line MTA Maryland: Light Rail, 3, 11, 61, 64
Delaware	Wilmington	Wilmington Station	Amtrak: Carolinian, Crescent, Palmetto, Northeast Regional, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter DART First State: 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 20, 21, 28, 32, 301 SEPTA Regional Rail: Wilmington/Newark Line
Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	30th Street Station	Amtrak: Acela Express, Carolinian, Crescent, Keystone Service, Palmetto, Pennsylvanian, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter NJ Transit: Atlantic City Line SEPTA City Transit Division: Market-Frankford Line, SEPTA Subway-Surface Trolley Lines (Route 10, Route 11, Route 13, Route 34, Route 36), 9, 30, 31, 44, 62, 121, 316 SEPTA Suburban Transit Division: 124, 125 SEPTA Regional Rail: Airport Line, Warminster Line, Wilmington/Newark Line, West Trenton Line, Media/Elwyn Line, Lansdale/Doylestown Line, Paoli/Thorndale Line, Manayunk/Norristown Line, Cynwyd Line, Trenton Line, Chestnut Hill East Line, Chestnut Hill West Line, Fox Chase Line
New Jersey	Trenton	Trenton Rail Station	Amtrak: Acela Express, Carolinian, Crescent, Keystone Service, Pennsylvanian, Silver Star, Silver Meteor, Vermonter NJ Transit: Northeast Corridor Line, River Line, 409, 418, 600, 601, 604, 606, 608, 609, 611, 619 SEPTA Regional Rail: Trenton Line SEPTA Suburban Transit Division: Route 127
	Newark	Newark Penn Station	Amtrak: Acela Express, Carolinian, Crsecent, Keystone Service, Pennsylvanian, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter NJ Transit: Newark City Subway, Newark Light Rail, North Jersey Coast Line, Northeast Corridor Line, Raritan Valley Line, 1, 5, 21, 34, 40, 62, 67, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 78, 79, 108, 308, 319 PATH: NWK-WTC Coach USA: 31, 44
New York	New York City	Penn Station	Amtrak: Acela Express, Adirondack, Carolinian, Crescent, Ethan Allen Express, Keystone Service, Lake Shore Limited, Maple Leaf, Northeast Regional, Palmetto, Pennsylvanian, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Vermonter LIRR: Main Line NJ Transit: North Jersey Coast Line, Northeast Corridor Line, Gladstone Branch, Montclair-Boonton Line, Morristown Line NYC Subway: 1 2 3 A C E trains NYC Transit buses: M4, M7, M20, M34 / M34A Select Bus Service, Q32

Further reading

• Mike Schafer, Amtrak's atlas, Trains June 1991
• Schwieterman, Joseph P. (2001). When the Railroad Leaves Town: American Communities in the Age of Rail Line Abandonment, Eastern United States. Truman State University Press. ISBN 0943549981. http://books.google.com/books?id=To0W-SyP8z4C. 
• Solomon, Brian; Mike Schafer (2007). New York Central Railroad. Voyageur Press. ISBN 0760329281. http://books.google.com/books?id=mELYxgFA8AYC. 

External links

• Amtrak - Cardinal / Hoosier State
• Amtrak October 2010 report on the Cardinal