Lake Shore Limited

Lake Shore Limited

Lake Shore Limited train #49 entering Croton–Harmon in 2008.
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Operating
Locale	Midwest and Northeast United States
Predecessor	Lake Shore
First service	October 1, 1975
Current operator(s)	Amtrak
Ridership	373,331 (FY 2014)[1]
Route
Start	Chicago, Illinois
Stops	20 (Chicago–New York) 22 (Chicago–Boston)
End	New York City Boston, Massachusetts
Distance travelled	959 miles (1,543 km) (Chicago–New York) 1,017 miles (1,637 km) (Chicago–Boston)
Average journey time	20 hours (Chicago–New York) 22 hours 40 minutes (Chicago–Boston)
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	48/448 (eastbound), 49/449 (westbound)
On-board services
Class(es)	Reserved Coach and First-class Sleeper
Seating arrangements	Airline-style coach seating (2 By 2)
Sleeping arrangements	Viewliner Roomette (2 beds) Viewliner Bedroom (2 beds) Viewliner Bedroom Suite (4 beds) Viewliner Accessible Bedroom (2 beds)
Catering facilities	Dining car and on-board café
Baggage facilities	Checked baggage available at selected stations
Technical
Rolling stock	Amfleet II coaches and lounges Viewliner sleepers
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Track owner(s)	MNRR, CSX, NS, MBTA, Amtrak
showRoute map Legend Dist. Station Empire Builder to Portland or Seattle Hiawatha Service to Milwaukee 0 mi 0 km Chicago IL IN 16 mi 26 km Hammond–Whiting Michigan Services to Pontiac Port Huron, or Grand Rapids 84 mi 135 km South Bend 102 mi 164 km Elkhart 155 mi 249 km Waterloo IN OH 180 mi 290 km Bryan 234 mi 377 km Toledo 281 mi 452 km Sandusky 316 mi 509 km Elyria 341 mi 549 km Cleveland Capitol Limited to Washington, D.C. OH PA 435 mi 700 km Erie PA NY Empire Service to Niagara Falls, NY Maple Leaf to Toronto 528 mi 850 km Buffalo–Depew 589 mi 948 km Rochester 668 mi 1075 km Syracuse 722 mi 1162 km Utica Adirondack to Montreal Ethan Allen Express to Rutland 800 mi 1287 km Schenectady 818 mi 1316 km Albany–Rensselaer 845 mi 1360 km Hudson 871 mi 1402 km Rhinecliff–Kingston 886 mi 1426 km Poughkeepsie 927 mi 1492 km Croton–Harmon 959 mi 1543 km New York NY MA 867 mi 1395 km Pittsfield 919 mi 1479 km Springfield Vermonter & Hartford Line 973 mi 1566 km Worcester 996 mi 1603 km Framingham 1016 mi 1635 km Boston Back Bay 1017 mi 1637 km Boston South This diagram: view talk

The Lake Shore Limited is an overnight Amtrak intercity passenger train that runs between Chicago and either New York City or Boston via two sections east of Albany. The train began service in 1975; its predecessor was Amtrak's Chicago–New York Lake Shore, which operated during 1971–72. It is named for the New York Central (NYC) Lake Shore Limited, which was discontinued in 1956, and uses the NYC's former main line, part of which is now the Empire Corridor.

During fiscal year 2019, the Lake Shore Limited carried 357,682 passengers, an increase of 5.9% from FY2018.^[2] In FY2016, the train had a total revenue of $28,563,624, an increase of 0.2% over FY2015.

History[]

The Lake Shore Limited is named after one of its predecessors that ran on the famed Water Level Route of the NYC. Like the present day Lake Shore Limited, the NYC edition offered service between New York and Boston and Chicago, although the New York Central used LaSalle Street Station. The New York Central annulled the Lake Shore Limited in 1956 as part of a system-wide reorganization. Service over the Water Level Route continued until the formation of Amtrak, with the last route being the New England States and an unnamed Penn Central successor.^[3]

The Lake Shore Limited at South Bend in 1976

The Lake Shore Limited at Poughkeepsie in 1978

Amtrak did not include service west of Buffalo over the New York Central's Water Level Route in its original route plan; Chicago–New York traffic was handled by the Broadway Limited using the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line via Pittsburgh, while Albany–Boston did not have any train service. Between May 1971 and January 1972, Amtrak operated the Chicago–New York Lake Shore with support from the state of Ohio. The present-day Lake Shore Limited began running October 31, 1975, with both New York and Boston sections.^[4]

The Lake Shore Limited was the last train to use the decaying Buffalo Central Terminal, departing on October 28, 1979. Since then it has used Buffalo–Depew.^[5] Its New York terminus changed from Grand Central Terminal to Pennsylvania Station in 1991 following the opening of the Empire Connection.^[6]

On the night of August 3, 1994, around 3:45 am, the westbound Lake Shore Limited, with two locomotives and fifteen cars, and carrying roughly 320 passengers, and nineteen crew members, derailed on Conrail-owned tracks (now owned by CSX) near Batavia, New York.^[7] The initial derailment of the wheels of the third car on the train, occurred at milepost 403.7, and the train traveled for another three miles, until the general derailment of the train, at milepost 406.7. In all, fourteen cars derailed, with some sliding down an embankment, and 118 passengers and crew members were injured. However, there were no fatalities. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause were the wheels coming off a section of flattened rail.^[8]

Service to Poughkeepsie began on November 8, 2010.^[9] In 2010–11, Amtrak studied restoring the Hammond/Whiting stop (which had been dropped in 2003), but ultimately did not restore it due to the difficulty of routing trains to the station's single platform.^[10]

Due to planned repair work on the Freedom Tunnel, Spuyten Duyvil Bridge, and Track 19 in New York's Penn Station, the New York section was discontinued from May 26 to September 3, 2018. Passengers traveling to New York City could transfer at Albany–Rensselaer to Empire Service trains, which operated into Grand Central Terminal during the outage.^[11]

From October 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021, daily service was reduced to three trains per week due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[12][13]

Possible future[]

In the January 2011 issue of Trains Magazine, the Lake Shore Limited was listed as one of five routes to undergo improvement evaluation by Amtrak in FY 2011, just as the previous five routes (the Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle, California Zephyr, Capitol Limited, and Cardinal) had been examined in FY 2010.^[14]

Amtrak published its Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) for the Lake Shore Limited in September 2011. One idea was to change the train's eastbound departure time from Chicago to be earlier. It currently departs at 9:30 PM, to facilitate connections from often-late West Coast trains. The improved departure time would add $2 million in yearly revenue.

Amtrak considered more radical changes to the operations of the Lake Shore Limited, including a re-route over the Chicago–Detroit Line, but rejected them.^[10]

Operations[]

Consist[]

A Lake Shore Limited train backs into Union Station in Chicago, with the Willis Tower visible in the background.

The Lake Shore Limited consists of a New York section (train number 48 eastbound, 49 westbound) and a Boston section (448 eastbound, 449 westbound), which run combined between Chicago and Albany. As of February 2019, the train typically has two P42DC locomotives (or one P32AC-DM locomotive between New York and Albany), one Viewliner baggage car, three Amfleet II coaches, one Amfleet I split Business/Cafe car, one Viewliner II diner (exclusively accessible to sleeper passengers), and three Viewliner Sleepers.^{[citation needed]}

In normal service, at Albany, the train splits into its Boston and New York sections. Low demand and cost-cutting led Amtrak to drop through service to Boston between 2003 and 2008; passengers made a cross-platform transfer to a shuttle train. The New York section uses a single dual-mode P32AC-DM for third-rail power in Pennsylvania Station. West of Albany, power is provided by two or three GE Genesis P42DC or P40DC diesel locomotives, which continue on to Boston.

In the late 1990s Amtrak considered adding Dunkirk, New York, as a stop between Buffalo and Erie. Dunkirk was listed as a stop with service "to commence on a date to be announced" on several timetables, but the stop was never added.^[15] In 2010–2011, Amtrak studied restoring the Hammond/Whiting stop (dropped in 2003) but rejected it because of difficulty of routing trains to the station's single platform.^[10]

Train #49 is separated from the P32AC-DM Albany–Rensselaer to prepare to be coupled with train #449 from Boston before heading to Chicago.

During the 2000s and 2010s the Lake Shore Limited carried either a Horizon Fleet or Amfleet lounge car.^[16] Between November 2007 and December 2009, maintenance problems led Amtrak to withdraw the Heritage diners and substitute Amfleet Cafe-based diner-lites, a move that became a source of passenger displeasure and a liability for the route, as the Heritage cars could prepare fresh food on board.^[17][18] In July 2016, Amtrak once again replaced the Lake Shore's full-service dining car with an Amfleet II diner-lite. This was due to Heritage shortages, as well as a multi-year delay in delivery of the new CAF Viewliner II cars, including 25 diners.^[19]

Service to Poughkeepsie began on November 8, 2010.^[20]

In FY 2010, only fifteen percent of passengers traveled between endpoints (Chicago and Boston or New York), although those travelers contributed 27 percent of ticket revenue. The remainder traveled to and from intermediate stations. According to Amtrak, passengers making connections in Chicago accounted for "a significant portion" of the Lake Shore Limited’s ridership and revenues.^[10]

In June 2018, Amtrak replaced the Amfleet II diner-lites with Viewliner II diners and adjusted the on board service by serving a selection of primarily-cold, exclusively pre-packaged boxed meals. The dining car is also now available as lounge space by sleeping car passengers even outside of meal times, but closed to coach passengers.^[21][22] In January 2019, Amtrak significantly updated the boxed meal service to offer a full continental buffet at breakfast, and multiple hot entrées for lunch and dinner.^[23] Also in January 2019, Amtrak removed the baggage car from the Boston section of the train, thereby eliminating all checked baggage and bike service between Boston and Albany. The New York section retains its baggage car.^[24] In October 2019, Amtrak again modified the on board dining service for sleeping car passengers by serving the pre-prepared meals on new reusable trays instead of in single use boxes to improve the meal presentation along with a refresh of the entree choices.^[25]

Route details[]

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The Lake Shore Limited between Chicago and New York City operates over the trackage of five railroad companies. The distance between Chicago and New York is 959 miles (1,543 km), while the distance between Chicago and Boston is 1,017 miles (1,637 km). From Chicago to Cleveland, the train rides the Chicago Line, which belongs to Norfolk Southern Railway, and is also used by Amtrak's Chicago-Washington, DC, train, the Capitol Limited. From Cleveland to Hoffmans, the Lake Shore rides on trackage belonging to the following CSX Transportation subdivisions: Cleveland Terminal, Erie West, Buffalo Terminal, Rochester, Syracuse Terminal, Mohawk, Selkirk, and Hudson.

The New York section operates on Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line from Poughkeepsie to Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx. Amtrak tracks are used twice: between Hoffmans and Poughkeepsie; and from the Bronx to Penn Station. The New York section only stops to discharge passengers southbound. Northbound trains only stop at Croton-Harmon and Poughkeepsie to receive passengers.

The Boston section runs on the trackage of several companies as well. The train travels on Amtrak's Post Road Branch from Rensselaer to nearby Schodack, from Schodack to Worcester on CSX's Berkshire and Boston subdivisions, and from Worcester to South Station on track owned and operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). This section only stops eastbound to discharge passengers from Worcester eastward, while westbound trains only stop to receive passengers at Back Bay and Framingham.

There is a short distance of trackage between Hudson and Schenectady that allows for 110-mile-per-hour (177 km/h) operations.^{[citation needed]} Delays to trains 448 and 449 have been common due to the high amount of freight traffic on the single-track railroad between Albany and Worcester.^[26][27]

Amtrak Lake Shore Limited (interactive map)

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lake Shore Limited.

• Lake Shore Limited – Amtrak