Empire Builder or Texas Eagle

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 BuilderTexas Eagle
EndpointsChicago Union Station to SeattleChicago Union Station to San Antonio
Duration, end to end46 h 24 m32 h 36 m
FrequencyDailyDaily
Trains7 westbound, 8 eastbound21 southbound, 22 northbound
Named stretches with a cited source98
ShowsWildlife, Mountains, Prairie, National parks, Pacific coast, Big riversBig rivers, Mountains, Big cities, Prairie
Headline stretchUpper Mississippi RiverMississippi River at St. Louis
Headline stretch in daylightwestbound: dark, 9:30 p.m.; eastbound: daylight, 10:13 a.m.southbound: daylight Apr to Aug; dusk Sep; dark Oct to Feb; dusk Mar, 6:57 p.m.; northbound: daylight, 8:33 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 Empire Builder reaches them. Transfer times are not checked.

Route pages