City of New Orleans or Pere Marquette

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 OrleansPere Marquette
EndpointsNew Orleans Union Passenger Terminal to Chicago Union StationChicago Union Station to Grand Rapids Vernon J. Ehlers
Duration, end to end19 h 30 m4 h 4 m
FrequencyDailyDaily
Trains58 northbound, 59 southbound370 eastbound, 371 westbound
Named stretches with a cited source64
ShowsBig rivers, Big cities, Gulf coast, Prairie, Wildlife
Headline stretchLake Pontchartrain and the bayouMichigan's west coast at St. Joseph
Headline stretch in daylightnorthbound: daylight, 2:18 p.m.; southbound: daylight, 2:59 p.m.eastbound: dusk Jun to Jul; dark Aug to May, 9:31 p.m.; westbound: daylight Apr to Aug; dawn Sep to Mar, 7:50 a.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