Cardinal or Vermonter
The two routes share 7 stations, Washington Union Station, Baltimore Penn Station, Wilmington among them. The table lists what each shows and how long each takes; the route pages carry the full stretch tables.
Side by side
| Cardinal | Vermonter | |
|---|---|---|
| Endpoints | Chicago Union Station to New York Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station | St. Albans to Washington Union Station |
| Duration, end to end | 27 h 33 m | 12 h 47 m |
| Frequency | 3 days a week | 5 days a week |
| Trains | 50 eastbound, 51 westbound | 55 southbound, 56 northbound |
| Named stretches with a cited source | 6 | 10 |
| Shows | Big rivers, Mountains, National parks, Big cities | Big rivers, Mountains, Big cities |
| Headline stretch | New River Gorge | Waterbury and the Green Mountains |
| 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. | southbound: daylight, 10:04 a.m.; northbound: daylight Jun to Jul; dusk Aug; dark Sep to Mar; dusk Apr to May, 7:56 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.