Borealis or City of New Orleans

The two routes share one station, Chicago Union Station. The table lists what each shows and how long each takes; the route pages carry the full stretch tables.

Side by side

BorealisCity of New Orleans
EndpointsChicago Union Station to St. Paul-MinneapolisNew Orleans Union Passenger Terminal to Chicago Union Station
Duration, end to end7 h 31 m19 h 30 m
FrequencyDailyDaily
Trains1333 westbound, 1340 eastbound58 northbound, 59 southbound
Named stretches with a cited source76
ShowsBig rivers, Big cities, WildlifeBig rivers, Big cities, Gulf coast, Prairie, Wildlife
Headline stretchUpper Mississippi RiverLake Pontchartrain and the bayou
Headline stretch in daylightwestbound: daylight Mar to Oct; dark Nov to Jan; dusk Feb, 5:26 p.m.; eastbound: daylight, 1:03 p.m.northbound: daylight, 2:18 p.m.; southbound: daylight, 2:59 p.m.

Duration, frequency, and daylight are computed from the Amtrak GTFS timetable (fetched 2026-10-15) for the representative trip in each direction; daylight is the phrase for the headline stretch, the highlighted row of each route page. Named stretches are counted from the cited route guides. How these are computed.

Stations both routes serve

Chicago Union Station

In the order the Borealis reaches them. Transfer times are not checked.

Route pages