Cardinal or Illini
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
| Cardinal | Illini | |
|---|---|---|
| Endpoints | Chicago Union Station to New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station | Carbondale to Chicago Union Station |
| Duration, end to end | 27 h 33 m | 5 h 30 m |
| Frequency | 3 days a week | Daily |
| Trains | 50 eastbound, 51 westbound | 392 northbound, 393 southbound |
| Named stretches with a cited source | 6 | 4 |
| Shows | Big rivers, Mountains, National parks, Big cities | Prairie, Big cities |
| Headline stretch | New River Gorge | Illinois Corn Belt |
| Headline stretch in daylight | eastbound: daylight, 9:56 a.m.; westbound: daylight May to Aug; dusk Sep; dark Oct to Feb; dusk Mar to Apr, 7:38 p.m. | northbound: daylight Jun to Jul; dusk Aug; dark Sep to Mar; dusk Apr to May, 7:41 p.m.; southbound: daylight Mar to Sep; dusk Oct; dark Nov to Jan; dusk Feb, 5:55 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.