City of New Orleans (train)
The City of New Orleans is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak in the Central United States between Chicago and New Orleans. The overnight train takes about 191⁄2 hours to complete its 934-mile (1,503 km) route, making major stops in Champaign–Urbana, Carbondale, Memphis, and Jackson.
Overview
April 27, 1947
Chicago, Illinois
New Orleans, Louisiana
17
934 miles (1,503 km)
19 hours, 30 minutes[2]
Daily
58, 59
Coach Class
Sleeper Service
Train lower level, all stations
- Roomette (2 beds)
- Bedroom (2 beds)
- Bedroom Suite (4 beds)
- Accessible Bedroom (2 beds)
- Family Bedroom (4 beds)
Overhead racks
4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
48 mph (77 km/h) (avg.)
79 mph (127 km/h) (top)
The City of New Orleans was first initiated by the Illinois Central Railroad in 1947 as the daytime complement to the Panama Limited, a night train dating back to 1911. In 1971 both routes were conveyed to Amtrak, which retained only the Panama Limited. In 1981 Amtrak revived the City of New Orleans name for the train, still on an overnight schedule, on the heels of the popular song of the same name by Steve Goodman.
Additional corridor service on the northern segment of the route is provided by the Illini and Saluki between Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois. The City of New Orleans is the only Amtrak train to serve Tennessee.
During fiscal year 2023, the train carried 233,876 passengers, an increase of 50.3% from FY2022.[3] In FY2016, the last year that route-specific revenue data was given, the train had a total revenue of $18,706,915, a 3.7% decrease from FY2015.[4]
A typical City of New Orleans consist includes:
