The Amtrak Long Distance Route Tier List

Amtrak is absolutely loaded with incredible long distance train routes that go to every corner of the country. So, lets dive into each route and see their pros and cons and what routes are the best in the Amtrak network!

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[himbourbanist]

One thing I don't think gets talked about enough is how good Amtrak Thruway bus network is as well. Amtrak is a National Rail Provider AND a National Bus Network. They manage to do quite a lot with a little on their long distance network.

[rayizard]

8:57 Pre-Katrina, it ran from Miami to LA. I can't believe it's been over 15 years and that portion of the route still hasn't been fixed!

[TohaBgood]

Yep, basically my ranking as well. The Zephyr and the Starlight are truly incredible experiences. Not just incredible rail experiences, but true bucket list stuff that I would argue everyone and anyone should try at least once in their lives.

[Urban_Avenues]

I love learning about the auto train history! Part of the reason the auto train failed was because they were trying to expand in Louisville, Kentucky to Florida and did it very unsuccessfully. Combine that with some of the maintenance issues that they were having causing derailments due to deferred maintenance, lead to the decline of the auto-train. Amtrak should renamed the route to Snowbird express! It’s very popular with retirees using it during winter season to travel to Florida.

[ezekielcarsella]

I never knew Chicago had so many routes leaving/ending there! So cool loved this video!

[catylynch]

I've taken the Coast Starlight, every summer, from San Francisco (Emeryville) to Seattle, for several years. In my childhood, we took Southern Pacific's "Shasta Daylight, " from Oakland, to Portland, to visit my grandparents. That, of course, was before AMTRAK. Today's journey is quite poignant, for me, as it is the same route that I enjoyed, then ... with the additional mileage to beautiful Seattle. My next trip begins in 5 days ... Sept., 1, to Sept. 8. I'm SO looking forward to it.
there's something that I'm sorry can't be covered in the YT presentations about the Coast Starlight. Much is made about the lovely AMTRAK stations in Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle ... and, rightly so1 The station in Emeryville, is a small, new building, of glass and steel. It has no "allure, " whatever. HOWEVER, the long-haul trains cannot come into San Francisco, as it would require that they become amphibious. Today, passengers from SF are bussed over to Emerviille, to connect to the train. When I was little, we reported to the San Francisco Ferry Building, for a ferry ride to Oakland. The Ferry Building is a beautiful old building, on a par with the stations I've mentioned. It was our point-of-departure, for the train journey north. It would be a sweet segment ... and historic footnote ... to some YT presentation of the Coast Starlight.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

The Hudson portion the Lake Shore Limited runs along (as well as other Amtrak services) is also used by the Metro North Railroad's Hudson Line! I grew up riding the Hudson Line when I lived in Tarrytown! The Hudson Line is an incredible line, as not only is it shared with Amtrak trains and has spectacular views of the Hudson Palisades and Hudson Highlands, but most of its electrified zone has four tracks (usually two express and local tracks in each direction), it has Manitou and Breakneck Ridge for hikers, there's connecting peak ferry service at Ossining and Beacon to go across the Hudson to Haverstraw and Newburgh respectively, you can take it for Yankees games at Yankees-East 153rd St, and the suburbs along the Hudson Line like Yonkers and Tarrytown are walkable! Before Amtrak, the Auto Train didn't just have a route between Virginia and Florida, there was another from Kentucky that they started in 1974! The Auto-Train Corporation began in 1971 and was the idea of Eugene K. Garfield, a former employee of the US Department of Transportation. The decaying Louisville and Nashville Railroad track between Louisville and Florida (which also hampered Amtrak's Floridian) hindered operations, and a pair of derailments stretched the company's finances to the breaking point. So after lack of success from its Louisville operations, high crew costs, and accidents, the company ceased in 1981, and Amtrak took over the Virginia-Florida route two years later. Before the Auto-Train was taken over by Amtrak, Amtrak actually planned to introduce a Midwest–Florida auto train service called "AutoTrak" in 1974, running between Indianapolis and Poinciana to compete with the Louisville route. However, when they ran a test train with 20 auto-carrier cars and rented autos, the train damaged the autos, so the idea was cancelled.

The Sunset Limited was first introduced in 1894 by the Southern Pacific Railroad along the Sunset Route as the Southern Pacific’s premier train, making it the oldest continuously operating named train in the US! The original Sunset Limited operated to San Francisco but the Los Angeles to San Francisco section was cut in 1942. The Sunset Route was envisioned as the best gateway to the West Coast compared to routes from Chicago and St Louis, as before the Panama Canal, the Sunset Route vastly shortened the time to reach the West Coast from the Atlantic as New Orleans was already an established seaport for those seeking to reach the US interior, had all-around good weather without having to worry about brutal winters, and the Sunset Limited allowed passengers to reach the West Coast in a few days, not weeks! Initially, it operated with all Pullmans, with sleeping cars and no coaches, running from New Orleans to San Francisco via Los Angeles. The San Francisco portion was cut in 1942. This was originally gonna be temporary due to an equipment overhaul, but it became permanent. From 1993-2005, the Sunset Limited operated an extended service to Miami but service east of New Orleans ended after Katrina. In 1993, the Sunset Limited derailed off the Big Bayou Canot Bridge near Mobile. It was caused by displacement of a span and deformation of the rails when a tow of heavy barges collided with the rail bridge eight minutes earlier. Forty-seven people were killed and 103 more were injured.

[SarahSkitchKitchen]

Loved this video! There are so many routes i want to take now!

[albertcarello]

Much more pleasant to travel than flying!

[thomasstambaugh]

I've taken all these routes except the Autotrain, always by sleeper, and I agree with your ranking.

I have a trip booked on the Zephyr next January -- I hope there are no issues related to the election. I last took the Coast Starlight from Seattle to Emeryville and connected to the Zephyr 20 years ago. At that time, the Coast Starlight offered shrimp cocktails after our Seattle departure. Those days are long gone.

I still want to do the Coast Starlight from end to end. I contemplate the Texas Eagle/Sunset on one leg, then the CZ, and then the Empire Builder on the other. I live in Boston, so my trips always begin and end with the Lakeshore. I think that's 9 nights on the train and at least one layover in either LA, Seattle, or both.

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

The Empire Builder is actually named after a person! The Empire Builder got its name from the flagship passenger train of the Great Northern Railway which originally began in 1929 and was retained by Amtrak in 1971. It was named in honor of Great Northern Railway founder James J. Hill, who had reorganized several failing railroads into the only successful attempt at a privately funded transcontinental railroad, thus building his own empire. The Silver Meteor was first introduced in 1939 as the first diesel-powered streamliner between NYC and Florida. It was the flagship train of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and one of the flagship trains of its successor, the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. The Silver Star on the other hand was first introduced in 1947. The difference between the two NYC-Miami services is their routes through the Carolinas as the Silver Star travels inland via Raleigh instead of along the Carolina coast like the Silver Meteor, and then they meet again at Savannah. Both the Silver Star and Silver Meteor were selected as names via a contest when 30 out of 76, 000 entrants proposed the winning names. The name Cardinal was first used in 1977, as the northern cardinal is the state bird of six states through which it ran, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

With the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and the canyons of Utah, the route of the California Zephyr is truly a love letter to the western US! The Moffat Tunnel is quite cool! If it wasn't for the Moffat Tunnel, Denver wouldn't have become the economic engine that it is today! David Moffat was unable to raise sufficient funds to build the tunnel before he died in 1911, but the fight for the tunnel continued in his honor! In 1920, a bill was passed by the state legislature to build new tunnels, but other regions blocked it because they didn't want Denver to gain an advantage in commerce. Blocking this would backfire big time when Pueblo was devastated by a flood in 1922 and Denver took this opportunity to say they'll vote for emergency funding for Pueblo in return for bonds for the tunnel. Eight hundred men ended up working round the clock for three and a half years, moving 1.5 million tons of rock!

The Southwest Chief is the successor to the Super Chief, the flagship train of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, which was inaugurated in 1936. The Santa Fe launched the Chief in 1926 to supplement the California Limited, and then introduced the Super Chief which gradually eclipsed the Chief, with the Chief ending service in 1968. The Santa Fe merged the Super Chief with its all-coach counterpart, the El Capitan, in 1958 as the Super Chief/El Capitan. Amtrak revived the Chief for three months in 1972. In 1973, Amtrak changed the name of the Super Chief/El Capitan to just the Super Chief. It was then renamed to the Southwest Limited in 1974 because Santa Fe wanted them to stop using Chief before finally being allowed to use Chief again, this time as the Southwest Chief, in 1984. The Crescent is a direct descendant of the Southerner, a streamlined passenger train operated by the Southern Railway from 1941 to 1970 between NYC and New Orleans. The name refers to its sister the Crescent which took a more coastal route to New Orleans via Mobile but after a push by partners to discontinue, chose to combine them into the Southern Crescent, operating on the Southerner route via Birmingham instead of Mobile. The Southern Railway initially opted out of Amtrak, but gave them full control in 1979, and Amtrak simplified the name back to just Crescent. The Crescent refers to one of New Orleans’s nicknames, the Crescent City, referring to the bend of the Mississippi River as it flows through the city!

[SpaceboyYT]

Thanks for rating the California Zephyr S Tier! I’ve yet to take it even though I live in Denver and it’s the only Amtrak route in my city!

[mxwoods]

If (hopefully when) Amtrak updates and refines the Texas Eagle line in the near future, it's definitely gonna climb up the tier list. St. Louis, Little Rock, Dallas and San Antonio are all underrated stops, the addition to travel to Los Angeles is super tough too! Once again, just hope they refine the service line soon!

[BoredSquirell]

Infrastructure ownership is the main thing holding the US rail back. Privatized operations are fine. Probably even desirable in US context. But all the complication about private rail ownership is causing the entire system the be way less efficient than it could, even for freight.

[PlacenProductions]

I’ll be taking the Cardinal this fall from Cincinnati to DC. Definitely looking forward to being able to properly enjoy the views as opposed to sitting behind the wheel the whole time.

[conorkrystad]

Having lived my entire life on the West Coast basically everyone I know in the US lives somewhere serviced by the Coast Starlight. I can vouch that there are some absolutely stunning views. If you've got time to spare, it's far better than flying.

[BoratWanksta]

I'd probably rank Southwest Chief as a B instead of a C rating, since it was never downgraded to flex dining unlike the Texas Eagle. Also the sightseer lounge was never removed from its regular train consist, unlike Texas Eagle.

It's unfortunate that some of the scenic parts are only passed through at night(unless there is a VERY major delay of hours), particularly the part between Barstow and Flagstaff. Honestly all these long distance trains should have a 2nd 12 hour apart train also on the schedule, but it would take enough railcars to ensure another train can run, plus negotations with the freight companies to get their okay for another such train. And additional funding, so that Amtrak can run an addtional train. Plus they'd have to hire additonal employees.

[ctsamurai]

I took the California Zephyr from Chicago to Denver. I have to admit that there is something uniquely mystical of going to sleep on a train and waking up to the pre-dawn light revealing the wide plains leading to the Rockies.

That magic was offset by the tremendous number of delays we experienced, however.

As frustrating as the delays were, thinking about the experience of crossing half the country and cutting through fields and forests does make me want to do it again some day.

[Ericohhh]

I took the auto train for my first time (and my first time riding Amtrak for that matter) and I think it’s the smarter move for the price. I was able to fit my Chevy Silverado on for $325 and snag a coach seat for $75 under a summer promo. For $400 that’s an insane deal and saves about 800 miles off my drive to NY. I’m getting back into trains as an adult and it was a really cool experience.

Also I really enjoyed this video talking about the different routes and consists, very informative 🤙🏼

[douglasengle]

I think these rating are greatly fair.  

Amtrak's Autotrain from south of Washington DC to near Orlando Florida is an experience in itself with only a fuel stop along the way and longest train by far any passenger train will likely ever experience because of the auto racks. It is unique. I rode it when I was 12 in the 1970s. We rode overnight in the vista dome watching out through the front glass I could see the auto racks stretching out, but I'd only catch glimpses of the locomotive headlights occasionally because it was nearly 1/2 mile away winding its way through the dark with the sound of a strong distance horn through the dense flying insect South. The vista dome cars give a much better viewing experience than the superliner sightseeing lounge cars because you can see forward through windshield and up.

The Capitol Limited is a find because it provides Superliner cars from an east coast city other than Autotrain. I rode the Amtrak Broadway limited in June 1981 that goes from Washington DC via Harrisburg PA to Chicago. The Capitol Limited superseded the Broadway Limited. The Broadway Limited travels the famous Pennsylvania mainline through the steel and anthracite coal heart of Pennsylvania. I remember thinking about using the Cardinal through WV, but getting to ride the famous Pennsylvania mainline and part of the NEC in a famous train was too much to pass up. It was also about 4 - 6 hours faster than the Cardinal as well.  

I went to WV Tech Montgomery WV that is a stop on the Cardinal allowing me to use it several times. A had friend, John Carrier from Albany NY that was a very knowledgeable rail fan. He fill me in on what was going on with much railroad activity. I was usually too worried about my EE studies to appreciate the various types of equipment the Cardinia would ferry along the Beach Grove IN, but I'd watch for them and take notice. I think Locomotive 273 was a common sight heading the train.

I think I should put the Coast Starlight on my must do passenger train travels. The West coast was known to be expensive, but a great place to live. I don't think I'd want to live there anymore, but the Coast Starlight is a winner. I might start down at San Diego on a regional Amtrak train and ride up to Los Angles to cover the coast.


Amtrak should reintroduce the private single sleeper slumber coach. Having to buy a roomette for two when they are almost always for a single person is very expensive and about the same comfort level. I used a slumber coach 4 times always being able to take advantage of the $10 on board upgrade cost from a coach seat if a slumber coach was not reserved after 8 PM.  

New Superliners should have a modern version of the single sleeper slumber coach and plentiful amounts of them so they are nearly always available. Right now to get a roomette costs about $500 compared to coach seat at $100 and they need to be reserved months in advance because Amtrak is far too scarce of sleepers. This is a near necessity to encourage young rail fans.