Empire Builder or Floridian

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

Empire BuilderFloridian
EndpointsChicago Union Station to SeattleMiami to Chicago Union Station
Duration, end to end46 h 24 m46 h 40 m
FrequencyDailyDaily
Trains7 westbound, 8 eastbound40 northbound, 41 southbound
Named stretches with a cited source93
ShowsWildlife, Mountains, Prairie, National parks, Pacific coast, Big riversMountains, Big rivers
Headline stretchUpper Mississippi RiverPotomac Valley on the B&O line
Headline stretch in daylightwestbound: dark, 9:30 p.m.; eastbound: daylight, 10:13 a.m.northbound: daylight Jan to Oct; dusk Nov to Dec, 4:32 p.m.; southbound: daylight, 12:23 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 Empire Builder reaches them. Transfer times are not checked.

Route pages