The ''Kentucky Cardinal'' was a nightly

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

operated by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

from 1999 to 2003 between

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, via

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. On the three days that the ''

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

'' ran, the ''Kentucky Cardinal'' operated as a section, splitting at Indianapolis. On the other four days, it ran on its own to Chicago.

History

Between May 1971 and August 1974 Amtrak's '' Floridian'' ran from Chicago to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

via Indianapolis and Louisville. Due to deteriorating Penn Central track in

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, the train was rerouted to the west north of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. In April 1975 the train was routed back east over the former Monon Railroad, again serving Louisville, but bypassing Indianapolis to the west. The ''Floridian'' served Louisville until its discontinuance in October 1979. On December 17, 1999, the ''Kentucky Cardinal'' started running as a rebranding and extension of the '' Hoosier State'', which ran four days a week between Chicago and Indianapolis (filling in the gaps in the ''Cardinal'' schedule). The ''Kentucky Cardinal'' ran as trains 850 southbound and 851 northbound, the same numbers as the ''Hoosier State.'' The train ran along former Pennsylvania Railroad/Penn Central trackage that had been used by the ''Floridian.'' It was an attempt to attract express business from United Parcel Service, which maintains its air-express hub at Louisville International Airport. At first the train only ran from Indianapolis south to Jeffersonville, Indiana, a Louisville suburb, where a new Amtrak Mail and Express facility was built. The city of Louisville spent $370,000 in 2001 to renovate Louisville Union Station for the service, and on December 4 the ''Kentucky Cardinal'' started to use a new track on the west side of the Union Station parking lot, marking Amtrak's return to Louisville after a 20-year absence. Unlike its predecessor, the ''Kentucky Cardinal'' was a full-fledged daily train. On the days the ''Cardinal'' operated, the southbound ''Kentucky Cardinal'' split from the eastbound ''Cardinal'' (train 50) at Indianapolis and continued to Louisville, while the northbound ''Kentucky Cardinal'' combined with the westbound ''Cardinal'' (train 51) in Indianapolis for the journey to Chicago. On the remaining four days of the week, the ''Kentucky Cardinal'' ran independently from Louisville to Chicago. The '' Texas Eagle'' operates in a similar manner, running as a section of the '' Sunset Limited'' on the three days that the latter train operates. The train was handicapped by inconvenient departure and arrival times, as it ran on the same schedule as the Indianapolis-Chicago leg of the ''Cardinal.'' It was also plagued by slow travel times, especially on the segment from Indianapolis south to Louisville. This segment was operated over the Louisville and Indiana Railroad, which had purchased the line from Conrail in 1994, and had a speed limit of 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) over most of the route due to its jointed rail. This made travel on the southern leg of the ''Kentucky Cardinal'' slower than

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

traffic on the parallel Interstate 65. With the opening in 1999, Greyhound began running Amtrak Thruway bus connections from Jeffersonville south to

, with stops at Elizabethtown and Bowling Green, Kentucky. Though rail passenger advocates tried to get the train's route extended to Nashville in an effort to increase ridership, Amtrak lost its mail contract, and the ''Kentucky Cardinal'' last ran July 4, 2003, restoring the old ''Hoosier State'' on July 6 (the ''Cardinal'' ran both ways on July 5)..

Route details

The tracks used were originally part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system, and are now owned by the Louisville and Indiana Railroad. The following lines were used: * Louisville Bridge and Terminal Railway (PRR),

, to Clarksville, Indiana, now L&I * Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad (PRR), Clarksville to

, now L&I

Notes

References

*Mike Schafer, Amtrak's atlas, ''

Trains A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

'' June 1991 *Scanner, ''

'' February 2000 *''Kentucky Cardinal'' fulfills its name, ''

'' March 2002 *''Kentucky Cardinal'' wings clipped, ''

'' June 2003 *Status quo is not a substitute for growth, ''

'' October 2003

Bibliography

* *

External links

Amtrak - ''Kentucky Cardinal''
on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{Former Amtrak routes Former Amtrak routes Transportation in Louisville, Kentucky Passenger rail transportation in Illinois Passenger rail transportation in Indiana Passenger rail transportation in Kentucky Railway services introduced in 1999 Railway services discontinued in 2003