Amtrak's long-distance network is a legacy of the
railroad age, when trains operated by private railroad companies were the fastest and sometimes only mode of intercity transportation. The mid-20th century saw steep
disinvestment in passenger rail relative to air and highway travel. Passenger trains became financial burdens for railroad companies, who sought to discontinue them. As a solution, Congress created Amtrak, a government-owned company, to operate intercity rail as a public service.
Most railroads opted-in and transferred their passenger rail operations to Amtrak on May 1, 1971. After the
Southern Railway opted-in to Amtrak in 1979, and the
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad in 1983, Amtrak was left as the sole long-distance train operator in the US. In the
Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA), Congress divided Amtrak's routes into three strictly defined service lines:
Northeast Corridor routes, short distance corridors (less than ), and long-distance routes of more than . Unlike short distance "state-supported" corridors, long-distance routes could continue to receive full federal funding.
Major route changes The long-distance network has been subject to periodic changes over the decades in response to internal and external pressures. Just four named long-distance trains have operated continuously since the formation of Amtrak (excepting short-term outages): the
Sunset Limited,
Empire Builder,
Silver Meteor, and
Coast Starlight.
1970s In Amtrak's first year, 1971, it significantly overhauled the long-distance rail network in the United States. In addition to selecting which existing routes to retain, Amtrak created several new routes: the
Coast Starlight,
North Coast Hiawatha, and
Lake Shore. It also renamed several routes: the
Spirit of St. Louis became the
National Limited, the
City of New Orleans the
Panama Limited, and the
South Wind the
Floridian. The following year, 1972, the
City of San Francisco was renamed the
San Francisco Zephyr and the
Lake Shore was discontinued. '' (1971–1979) at
Bozeman Pass en route to The
Inter-American entered service in 1973 as short-distance train between
Laredo and
Fort Worth. It was extended north to
St. Louis in 1974 and further to in 1976. In 1974 Amtrak renamed the
Super Chief to the
Southwest Limited and the
Texas Chief to the
Lone Star following the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway revoking permission to use the "Chief" names. The
Mountaineer and
Lake Shore Limited began service in 1975, and the
Palmetto in 1976. The
Mountaineer lasted only until 1977, at which point it was replaced by the
Hilltopper. The
Pioneer also entered service in 1977, and the
James Whitcomb Riley was renamed the
Cardinal. 1979 was a year of major restructuring. Six long-distance routes were discontinued by the
Carter Administration for not meeting a minimum farebox recovery ratio: the
Lone Star,
Champion,
North Coast Hiawatha,
National Limited,
Floridian, and
Hilltopper. As limited compensation, a
Houston section was added to the
Inter-American, a
St. Petersburg section to the
Silver Meteor, and the
Empire Builder was rerouted to
St. Cloud. Meanwhile, the
Southern Railway transferred its last remaining passenger route, the
Southern Crescent, to Amtrak, who renamed it the
Crescent. The
Desert Wind also entered service in 1979.
1980s '' (1977–1997) in the
Columbia River Gorge en route from in the 1980s In 1981 the
Capitol Limited began service, while the
Inter-American was truncated to San Antonio, stripped of its Houston section, and renamed the
Eagle. The
Empire Builder was rerouted to , bypassing the
Yakima Valley, while a section was added. The
Panama Limited was renamed back to the
City of New Orleans in hopes of capitalizing on the
song of the same name. The
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad opted-in to Amtrak in 1983. As a result, Amtrak rerouted its
San Francisco Zephyr over the former route of the D&RGW's
Rio Grande Zephyr between
Denver and
Salt Lake City, renaming the train the
California Zephyr. Amtrak also began operating the
Auto Train in 1983. In 1984 Amtrak renamed the
Southwest Limited to the
Southwest Chief alongside the deployment of
Superliner equipment, and also initiated the
River Cities as a section of the
City of New Orleans. In 1988 the
Eagle was renamed the
Texas Eagle, and in 1989 Amtrak began the
Gulf Breeze as a section of the
Crescent.
1990s In 1990 the
Capitol Limited and
Broadway Limited were rerouted between and Chicago, bypassing . The
Capitol Limited was moved to serve and , the
Broadway Limited to and . '' (1979–1997) at
Cajon Pass en route from in 1991 Amtrak extended the
Sunset Limited east to
Florida in 1993, creating its only coast-to-coast route. The
River Cities was discontinued the same year. Amtrak discontinued the Tampa section of the
Silver Meteor in 1994. In 1995 Amtrak discontinued the
Gulf Breeze,
Palmetto, and
Broadway Limited, the latter being partially replaced with the short-distance
Three Rivers. Meanwhile, the
City of New Orleans was rerouted west to between and . In 1996 the
Three Rivers was extended to Chicago and the
Silver Palm was introduced, essentially restoring service on the routes of the
Broadway Limited and
Palmetto that had ended the prior year. The
Sunset Limited was rerouted to bypass at the request of
Union Pacific. (1995–2005) rounding
Horseshoe Curve in 2002In 1997, funding issues forced Amtrak to discontinue the
Desert Wind and
Pioneer, severing
Las Vegas,
Wyoming, and
Southern Idaho from the rail network.
2000s The
Silver Palm was renamed to
Palmetto in 2002, restoring the route's former name. In 2004, the
Palmetto was truncated to Savannah, resulting in the rerouting of the
Silver Star to serve Tampa. In 2005 the
Three Rivers was discontinued following the cancellation of a related
Postal Service contract. That same year, the
Sunset Limited was suspended east of
New Orleans due to track damage from
Hurricane Katrina.
2020s In November 2024 Amtrak truncated the
Silver Star at Washington and merged it with the
Capitol Limited, creating a single Chicago–Washington–Miami route: the
Floridian. This was the first direct train service between the Midwest and Florida since the 1979 discontinuance of the original
Floridian, albeit following a longer route.
Table of discontinued Amtrak long-distance routes Timeline ==Proposed expansion==