City of New Orleans or Lake Shore Limited

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

City of New OrleansLake Shore Limited
EndpointsNew Orleans Union Passenger Terminal to Chicago Union StationChicago Union Station to Boston
Duration, end to end19 h 30 m22 h 2 m
FrequencyDailyDaily
Trains58 northbound, 59 southbound448 eastbound, 449 westbound
Named stretches with a cited source65
ShowsBig rivers, Big cities, Gulf coast, Prairie, WildlifeMountains, Big rivers, Big cities, Wildlife
Headline stretchLake Pontchartrain and the bayouThe Berkshires and the Westfield River
Headline stretch in daylightnorthbound: daylight, 2:18 p.m.; southbound: daylight, 2:59 p.m.eastbound: daylight Mar to Oct; dark Nov to Dec; dusk Jan to Feb, 5:09 p.m.; westbound: daylight Jan to Oct; dusk Nov to Dec, 4:04 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 City of New Orleans reaches them. Transfer times are not checked.

Route pages