Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also c ...

Panama Limited The ''Panama Limited'' was a passenger train operated from 1911 to 1971 between Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The flagship train of the Illinois Central Railroad, it took its name from the Panama Canal, which in 1911 was three yea ...

City of New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Steve Goodman. The train operates along a route that has been served in one form or another for over a century. The ''Panama Limited'' originally ran from 1911 to 1971, though the IC ran Chicago-New Orleans trains since the turn of the century. Additional corridor service is provided between Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois–the northern leg of the route–by the ''

Illini and Saluki The ''Illini'' and ''Saluki'' are a pair of passenger trains operated by Amtrak along a route between Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois. They are part of Amtrak's Illinois Service and are primarily funded by the state of Illinois. The route is ...

''. During

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

2018, the train carried 237,781 passengers, a decrease of 6.9% from FY2017. In FY2016, the train had a total revenue of $18,706,915, a 3.7% decrease from FY2015.

History

Illinois Central

The

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also c ...

introduced the original ''City of New Orleans'' on April 27, 1947. It was a daytime, all-coach companion to the overnight ''

Panama Limited The ''Panama Limited'' was a passenger train operated from 1911 to 1971 between Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The flagship train of the Illinois Central Railroad, it took its name from the Panama Canal, which in 1911 was three yea ...

,'' which had been all- Pullman for most of its run.

EMD E7 The E7 was a , A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois. 428 cab versions, or E7As, were built from February 1945 to April 1949; 82 booster E7Bs were built from March 1945 to Ju ...

diesel locomotives pulled new lightweight Pullman Company coaches. The route, which the ''City of New Orleans'' covered in 15 hours 55 minutes, was the longest daytime schedule in the United States. The ''City of New Orleans'' exchanged

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

—New Orleans

through car In rail terminology, a through coach is a passenger car (coach) that is re-marshalled during the course of its journey. It begins the journey attached to one train, and arrives at its destination attached to another train. Through coaches save th ...

s at Carbondale, Illinois and

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

—New Orleans cars at

Fulton, Kentucky Fulton is a home rule-class city in Fulton County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,357 at the 2020 census, down from 2,445 at the 2010 census. It was once known as the "Banana Capital of the World", because 70% of imported banan ...

. The average speed of the new train was nearly with a maximum of ; a result of the largely flat route of the Illinois Central along the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

. By October 25, 1959, the timetable had lengthened to 16 hours 30 minutes. The train remained popular throughout the 1960s and gained ex-

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

dome coaches in 1967.

Amtrak

When Amtrak assumed operation of U.S. passenger train service on May 1, 1971, it dropped the ''Panama Limited'' in favor of retaining the ''City of New Orleans'' on the traditional daytime schedule. Inauspiciously, the ''City of New Orleans'' was involved in Amtrak's first fatal derailment on June 10, near

Salem, Illinois Salem is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Illinois, United States. The population was 7,485 at the 2010 census. Geography Salem is located at (38.6282, -88.9482). According to the 2010 census, Salem has a total area of , of w ...

. Because this train made no connections with other trains at either New Orleans or Chicago, Amtrak moved the train to an overnight schedule on November 14, 1971, and renamed it the ''Panama Limited''. In February 1981, Amtrak restored the ''City of New Orleans'' name while retaining the overnight schedule; Amtrak hoped to capitalize on the popularity of the

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

written by Steve Goodman and recorded in 1972 by

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. Gu ...

. A Kansas City section, the '' River Cities,'' began operation on April 29, 1984. It separated from the ''City of New Orleans'' at

Centralia, Illinois Centralia is a city in Clinton, Jefferson, Marion, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Illinois with the largest portion in Marion County. The city is the largest in three of the counties; Clinton, Marion, and Washington, but is not a ...

(later Carbondale) and ran to Kansas City via St. Louis. This section ended on November 4, 1994. The northbound ''City of New Orleans'' began stopping at

Gilman, Illinois Gilman is a city in Douglas Township, Iroquois County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,738 at the 2020 census. Geography Gilman is located in the western part of the county at the intersection of three major highways: Interstate ...

, on October 26, 1986. Gilman had last seen service in 1971; the ''Illini'' stopped there as well. Service to Cairo, Illinois, south of Carbondale, ended on October 25, 1987. Amtrak operated the ''City of New Orleans'' reliably through the 1980s and into the 1990s; in 1992, the ''City of New Orleans'' had the highest on-time performance rate of all Amtrak services at 87%. Nevertheless, on-board service had declined; ''

Trains In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

'' magazine editor J. David Ingles called the train "Amtrak's least-glamorous long-distance train". On March 3, 1994, new Superliner cars replaced the single-level cars. Real dining service returned; by the early 1990s an

Amfleet 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 in ...

dinette had doubled with the lounge car. On September 10, 1995, the train was rerouted between

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

and

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

due to the Illinois Central's desire to abandon the original route (the Grenada District) in favor of the newer and flatter Yazoo District. Five towns in the Mississippi Delta lost service– Batesville, Grenada; Winona; Durant and Canton. On March 15, 1999, the ''City of New Orleans'' collided with a flatbed semi-trailer near

Bourbonnais Bourbonnais () was a historic province in the centre of France that corresponds to the modern ''département'' of Allier, along with part of the ''département'' of Cher. Its capital was Moulins. History The title of the ruler of Bourbonnais ...

. Of the 217 people aboard the train, eleven people were killed in the

Bourbonnais train accident On March 15, 1999, Amtrak's southbound ''City of New Orleans'' passenger train collided with a semi-trailer truck in the village of Bourbonnais, Illinois, United States. Most of the train derailed, killing eleven people. A National Transport ...

. The fourth car, where the fatalities occurred, was engulfed in flames following the collision at the crossing. Because of damage in Mississippi and Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina, Amtrak was forced in late August 2005 to truncate the ''City of New Orleans'' at

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. Service was first restored as far south as Hammond, Louisiana, and on October 8, 2005, Amtrak resumed service to New Orleans. In December 2005

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. Gu ...

, who helped popularize the song "

City of New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Marks, Mississippi Marks is a city in and the county seat of Quitman County, Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,735. History The town of Marks was named after Leopold Marks (1851-1910) who left Germany to avoid conscription by the Germa ...

on April 4, 2018 following the completion of a new station. Starting October 1, 2019, traditional dining car services were removed and replaced with a reduced menu of 'Flexible Dining' options. From October 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021, daily service was reduced to three trains per week due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

.

Route details

Upon Amtrak's creation in 1971, the ''City of New Orleans'' was one of four trains that called at Chicago's

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

, which was originally Illinois Central's terminal in Chicago. All Amtrak trains were consolidated to

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

by March 1972. The tracks used were once part of the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also c ...

system, and are now owned by the Canadian National Railway (CN). The following lines are used: * St. Charles Air Line Railroad (IC),

Chicago Union Station Chicago Union Station is an intercity and commuter rail terminal located in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The station is Amtrak's flagship station in the Midwest. While serving long-distance passenger trains, it is also ...

to the shore of Lake Michigan, now CN *

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also c ...

Chicago Branch and main line, Chicago to Cairo, Illinois, now CN * Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad (IC), Cairo to

Fulton, Kentucky Fulton is a home rule-class city in Fulton County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,357 at the 2020 census, down from 2,445 at the 2010 census. It was once known as the "Banana Capital of the World", because 70% of imported banan ...

, now CN *

Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad The Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad was a 19th-century railway company in Kentucky in the United States. It operated from 1882, when it purchased the Paducah and Elizabethtown Railroad and the Memphis, Paducah and Northern Railroad, unt ...

(IC), Fulton to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, now CN *

Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad (Y&MV) was incorporated in 1882 and was part of the Illinois Central Railroad system (IC). Construction began in Jackson, Mississippi, and continued to Yazoo City, Mississippi. The line was later expanded ...

(IC), Memphis to

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...

, now CN *Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad (IC), Jackson to

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, now CN In its present form, the southbound ''City of New Orleans'' leaves Chicago at 8 P.M. in the evening, traveling overnight through southern Illinois and Kentucky for arrival at breakfast time the following morning in Memphis, lunchtime in Jackson, and mid-afternoon in New Orleans. Northbound trains leave New Orleans in early afternoon, arriving in Jackson in early evening, then traveling through Tennessee and southern Illinois overnight before arriving in Champaign-Urbana at breakfast time the following morning and Chicago just after rush hour. The train provides Tennessee's sole direct link to the Amtrak system; it serves the only two Amtrak stations in Tennessee, Newbern and Memphis. In fiscal year 2004, the ''City of New Orleans'' achieved an on-time performance rating of 67.6%. The train's average on-time performance rating for fiscal year 2006 was 86.8%, reaching as high as 93.5% for the month of May 2006. In 2016, Amtrak released a study on bringing passenger rail to the Gulf Coast that recommended extending the ''City of New Orleans'' to Orlando, Florida along trackage once traversed by the '' Sunset Limited'' but unserved since Hurricane Katrina. The

Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program is a $4.6 billion program to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of freight, commuter and intercity passenger rail and to reduce highway delay in the Chicago regio ...

(CREATE) is in the preliminary design phase for the Grand Crossing Project. This project will reroute the ''Illini'', ''Saluki'', and ''City of New Orleans'' trains from CN's tracks to

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...

's Chicago Line in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood in Chicago. This will eliminate a time-consuming switchback on the St. Charles Air Line into Chicago Union Station. It will also make enable extension from Chicago to the Northwest. *Chicago to St. Croix: BNSF Chicago Subdivision, BNSF Aurora Subdivision, BNSF St. Croix Subdivision *St. Croix to Shelby: Amtrak ''Empire Builder'' route *Shelby to Calgary: Canadian Pacific Railway *Calgary to Vancouver: Canadian Pacific Railway

Equipment

A typical ''City of New Orleans'' consist goes as follows: *

GE Genesis General Electric Genesis (officially trademarked GENESIS) is a series of passenger diesel locomotives produced by GE Transportation, then a subsidiary of General Electric. Between 1992 and 2001, a total of 321 units were built for Amtrak, Metro- ...

/

Siemens ALC-42 The Siemens Charger is a family of diesel-electric passenger locomotives designed and manufactured by Siemens Mobility for the North American market. There are five variants of the Charger, tailored for different operators and types of service ...

locomotive *

Viewliner The Viewliner is a single-level railroad car type operated by Amtrak on most long-distance routes operating east of Chicago. The first production cars, consisting of an order of 50 sleeping cars, entered service in 1994. From 2015-2016, 70 View ...

Baggage car * Superliner Transition-sleeper * Superliner Sleeper * Superliner Diner-Lounge * Superliner Sightseer Lounge * Superliner Coach * Superliner Coach * Superliner Coach-baggage

Folk song

"

City of New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

song written and first performed by Steve Goodman in 1970 and subsequently recorded by

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. Gu ...

in 1972 and many other artists, notably

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...

, Johnny Cash, John Denver (with slightly different lyrics), Judy Collins, and

Jerry Reed Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008) was an American singer, guitarist, composer, and songwriter as well as an actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included " Guitar Man", " U.S. Male", "A Thi ...

. The song lyrics trace the trail of the train route in mourning the "''...disappearin' railroad blues...''."

Tom Rush Thomas Walker Rush (born February 8, 1941) is an American folk music, folk and blues music, blues singer, guitarist and songwriter who helped launch the careers of other singer-songwriters in the 1960s and has continued his own singing career f ...

performed and recorded a folk song (based on some

Bukka White Booker T. Washington "Bukka" White (November 12, 1906 February 26, 1977) was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. Biography White was born south of Houston, Mississippi. He was a first cousin of B.B. King's mother (White's mother and ...

songs) about the ''

Panama Limited The ''Panama Limited'' was a passenger train operated from 1911 to 1971 between Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The flagship train of the Illinois Central Railroad, it took its name from the Panama Canal, which in 1911 was three yea ...

'', the overnight train along the same route as the ''City of New Orleans''.

References

* * * * * *

Notes

External links

* * {{IC named trains Named passenger trains of the United States Amtrak routes Passenger trains of the Illinois Central Railroad Passenger rail transportation in Illinois Passenger rail transportation in Kentucky Passenger rail transportation in Tennessee Passenger rail transportation in Mississippi Passenger rail transportation in Louisiana Transportation in New Orleans Night trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1947 Railway services introduced in 1981 Railway services discontinued in 1971 Long distance Amtrak routes

History

Illinois Central

Amtrak

Route details

Equipment

Folk song

See also

References

Notes

External links