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The ''Capitol Limited'' is a temporarily discontinued daily
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
train between Washington, D.C., and
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, running via
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
and
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
. Service began in 1981. On November 10, 2024, Amtrak temporarily combined the ''Capitol Limited'' and , producing a Chicago-Washington–Miami route, the . The train was named for the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...
's '' Capitol Limited,'' which ended in 1971 upon the formation of Amtrak. It carried the Amtrak train numbers 29 and 30, which were previously assigned to the discontinued '' National Limited''. During
fiscal year A fiscal year (also known as a 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. La ...
2023, the ''Capitol Limited'' carried 167,713 passengers, down 24.7% from FY2022.


History

On October 1, 1981, Amtrak stopped running the '' Shenandoah,'' which connected Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati, Ohio, and began running the ''Capitol Limited''. Amtrak's version of the CL ran over the same route as the B&O's train east of
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
, but west of Pittsburgh it ran combined with the Chicago-New York '' Broadway Limited'' over the former
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...
's
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway The Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway was a major part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system, extending the PRR west from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, via Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Chicago, Illinois. It included the current Norfolk Southern-ow ...
. 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 Limiteds former Washington section which had diverged at
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. In late 1984, the ''Capitol Limited'' was re-equipped with new
Amfleet Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger car (rail), 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 Budd Metroliner, Me ...
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 ''Capitol Limited'' continued to operate over the same route, regained a full diner east of Pittsburgh (which it had lost in 1984), received new train numbers (29 and 30, which had been assigned to the defunct '' National Limited''), and a later schedule. On November 12, 1990, trains were rerouted west of
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, due to
Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...
's desire to abandon part of the former PFW&C in northwestern
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
; the ''Capitol Limited'' now uses the former Pennsylvania Railroad Cleveland and Pittsburgh (C&P) line north from Alliance through
Hudson, Ohio Hudson is a city in northern Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,110 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community in the Akron metropolitan area. John Brown made his first public vow to destroy slavery here and the ci ...
, 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, and a further rerouting over the former New York Central Water Level Route. This new alignment took the ''Capitol'' through
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
, Toledo, and Elkhart, IN, which remains the case today. On February 16, 1996, an eastbound rush-hour MARC commuter train headed to
Washington Union Station Washington Union Station, known locally as Union Station, is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's second-busiest station and North ...
collided with the westbound ''Capitol Limited'' near Georgetown Junction on a snow-covered stretch of track just west of
Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...
. 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. In November 2014, Amtrak, in the face of extreme delays, filed a complaint with the
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, against
CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...
and
Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...
, due to the frequency of extreme delays caused by freight train interference. On April 19, 2018, Amtrak announced that it would discontinue full-service dining aboard the train on June 1. Instead of hot meals prepared on the train and served to diners in the dining car, sleeper passengers were now served a selection of primarily cold pre-packaged boxed meals, served in a "Sleeper Lounge". In January 2019, Amtrak expanded the boxed meal service to offer a full continental buffet at breakfast (with hot options such as oatmeal and breakfast sandwiches), and multiple hot entrées for lunch and dinner. In October 2020, Amtrak temporarily reduced service on all long-distance routes, including the Capitol Limited, to three days per week due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Regular daily service was restored on May 31, 2021, with funding from the American Rescue Plan. On November 10, 2024, the ''Capitol Limited'' and were merged into a Chicago–Washington–Miami service, the . The ''Floridian'' service is intended to be temporary to accommodate equipment shortages and planned rehabilitation work in the East River Tunnels.


Through cars

Between 1984 and 1986 and again from 1991 to 1993, the ''Capitol Limited'' exchanged a
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
-
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
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 The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and American Southwest ...
'', 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 A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...
'' 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 had plans to operate a Viewliner sleeping car, an
Amfleet Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger car (rail), 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 Budd Metroliner, Me ...
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. Issues cited with providing such a service included a consist switch in Pittsburgh (shuffling sleeper and coach positions so that the transition sleeper was in the rear), an eight-hour layover on Sundays due to the ''Pennsylvanians 1:20p departure (since eliminated), and a lack of Viewliner sleepers (delivery of new Viewliner II sleepers was delayed by several years).


Former stops

The ''Capitol Limiteds original routing west of Pittsburgh included Ohio stops in Canton, Crestline, and
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; and Indiana stops in
Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 United S ...
, Valparaiso, and Gary. Amtrak dropped Gary as a station stop on April 28, 1985. On April 27, 1986, Amtrak added
Warsaw, Indiana Warsaw is a city in and the county seat of Kosciusko County, Indiana, United States. Warsaw has a population of 15,804 as of the 2020 U.S. Census. Warsaw also borders a smaller town, Winona Lake. Etymology Warsaw, named after the capital of ...
, 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 McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. A suburb of Pittsburgh, it is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. History Early history ...
, 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 during the train's final months of service at that station. Station platform track was subsequently removed, and the facility became an all-bus terminal.


Route details

Between Washington and Pittsburgh, the ''Capitol Limited'' mostly followed the historic B&O route along narrow river valleys hemmed in by steep slopes, mainly the
Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...
from Washington to
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, then Wills Creek to just before Meyersdale, and then the Youghiogheny River most of the way to Pittsburgh.
Rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...
s parallel much of this route, often on the opposite banks. The route straightens and levels out from Ohio onward. Westbound trains left Washington before the afternoon rush and arrived in Chicago in the morning, while eastbound trains left Chicago in early evening and arrived in Washington in early afternoon. The ''Capitol Limited'' operated over the following
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
,
CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...
, and
Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...
trackage: *Amtrak
Washington Union Station Washington Union Station, known locally as Union Station, is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's second-busiest station and North ...
, part of the
Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C., in the south, with major stops in Providence, Rhod ...
*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
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*NS Cleveland Line, Alliance to
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
*NS Chicago Line, Cleveland to Chicago *Amtrak
Chicago Union Station Chicago Union Station is an Inter-city rail, intercity and commuter rail terminal station, terminal located in the West Loop neighborhood of the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side of Chicago. Amtrak's flagship station in the Midwest, Uni ...


Stations


Equipment

The Capitol Limited used bilevel Superliner equipment. Pre-COVID, a typical ''Capitol Limited'' had 2 GE P40DC/P42DC locomotives, a Viewliner II baggage car, a Superliner transition sleeper, 2 Superliner sleepers, a Superliner dining car or diner-lounge, a Superliner Sightseer Lounge, and 3 Superliner coaches. The transition sleeper, Sightseer Lounge, and one coach were removed during pandemic cutbacks. One sleeper and a second coach were removed in early 2023 due to Superliner shortages resulting from the introduction of the and the
Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...
requiring the to operate with Superliners. Amtrak began replacing the older P40DC and P42DC locomotives with Siemens ALC-42 locomotives in 2023.


References


Notes


Further reading

*


External links

* {{Authority control Amtrak routes Night trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in Washington, D.C. Passenger rail transportation in Maryland Passenger rail transportation in West Virginia Passenger rail transportation in Pennsylvania Passenger rail transportation in Ohio Passenger rail transportation in Indiana Passenger rail transportation in Illinois Railway services introduced in 1981 Long-distance Amtrak routes