USA train map

Chicago → San Antonio · 2,102 km · ≈ 32 h

Amtrak · Amtrak Superliner

A Missouri Pacific name kept alive from the Loop to the Alamo: with through sleepers to Los Angeles, one of the longest runs on the Amtrak map.

New York → Chicago · 1,844 km · ≈ 28 h

Amtrak · Amtrak Amfleet & Viewliner

Amtrak’s slowest way to Chicago and its prettiest: tri-weekly through Virginia horse country and the whitewater canyons of the New River Gorge.

Boston → Chicago · 1,634 km · ≈ 22 h

Amtrak · Amtrak Viewliner II

The Lake Shore Limited’s Boston cars, split from the New York train at Albany–Rensselaer, cross the Berkshires by Pittsfield and Springfield on the old Boston and Albany; first run in 1975.

New York → Chicago · 1,543 km · ≈ 19 h

Amtrak · Amtrak Viewliner II

Heir to the New York Central’s 1897 Water Level Route: up the Hudson at dusk, along Lake Erie by night, into Chicago with morning coffee.

Chicago → New Orleans · 1,500 km · 19 h 30 min

Amtrak · Superliner

Immortalized in Steve Goodman’s 1971 song: overnight down the Mississippi Delta past Memphis, Yazoo City and the Louisiana bayous.

Lorton → Sanford · 1,376 km · 17 h 30 min

Amtrak · Superliner

Cars and motorcycles ride in autoracks behind the sleepers: often the world’s longest passenger train, nonstop Virginia to Florida.

New York → Charlotte · 1,133 km · 13 h 31 min

Amtrak · NCDOT · Amfleet · Siemens ACS-64

At 704 miles the longest state-supported route in the Amtrak system, swapping its electric locomotive for a diesel at Washington.

Roanoke → Boston · 1,091 km · 14 h 1 min

Amtrak · VPRA · Amfleet I · Siemens ACS-64 & ALC-42

From Boston down the whole Northeast Corridor, then past Washington by Charlottesville and Lynchburg to Roanoke, where the Northeast Regional, paid for by Virginia, brought trains back in 2017.

Washington → St. Albans · 983 km · 12 h 40 min

Amtrak · Amfleet · GE P42DC

One of Amtrak’s longest daytime runs; trains reverse at Springfield to swing up the Connecticut River valley into Vermont’s Green Mountains.

New York → Toronto · 875 km · 12 h 30 min

Amtrak · VIA Rail · Amfleet · GE P32AC-DM

The only Amtrak–VIA joint train: passengers clear customs at Niagara Falls, where the line crosses the gorge beside the thundering cataract.

Vancouver → Eugene · 752 km · ≈ 11 h

Amtrak / WSDOT & ODOT · Siemens Airo (from 2026)

Salish Sea beaches, Puget Sound ferries and Willamette farmland: the Pacific Northwest’s green corridor train, re-equipping with new Airo sets in 2026.

Boston → Washington, D.C. · 735 km · 6 h 42 min

Amtrak · Avelia Liberty

America’s fastest train works the dense Northeast Corridor: 240 km/h bursts between five major downtowns.

Boston → Washington · 735 km · 7 h 52 min

Amtrak · Amfleet I · Siemens ACS-64

Amtrak’s busiest train, over 12 million riders a year, racing the electrified Northeast Corridor at up to 125 mph without the Acela fare.

New York → Pittsburgh · 715 km · 9 h 15 min

Amtrak · Amfleet · Siemens ACS-64

Sweeps around Horseshoe Curve near Altoona: the 1854 engineering landmark that finally tamed the Allegheny grade.

Chicago → Saint Paul · 668 km · 7 h 30 min

Amtrak · Amfleet coaches, Siemens Charger diesel

Amtrak’s May 2024 daytime run up the Mississippi from Chicago through Milwaukee and Wisconsin’s river bluffs to the Twin Cities.

New York → Montréal · 613 km · ≈ 11 h

Amtrak · Amfleet coaches

Hudson castles, Lake Champlain narrows and border-country vineyards: widely called the most scenic day train in the eastern United States.

San Diego → San Luis Obispo · 565 km · 8 h 45 min

Amtrak · Surfliner bilevel cars

Heir to the 1938 San Diegan: surfboards ride free as double-deckers skim the sand at Del Mar and San Clemente.

Oakland → Bakersfield · 507 km · 6 h

Amtrak · SJJPA · Siemens Venture · Charger

A Central Valley workhorse whose Thruway buses fan out to Yosemite, LA and the coast; over half of riders connect to a bus.

New York → Burlington · 500 km · 7 h 35 min

Amtrak · Amfleet · GE P32AC-DM

In July 2022 it became the first passenger train to reach Burlington in 69 years, extending north from Rutland along Lake Champlain.

Chicago → Pontiac · 489 km · 6 h

Amtrak · MDOT · Siemens Venture · Charger

Hits 110 mph on state-owned track between Kalamazoo and Dearborn: one of the few 100-mph corridors outside the Northeast.

St. Louis → Kansas City · 455 km · ≈ 5 h 40 min

Amtrak · Amtrak Venture cars

Twice a day along the wide Missouri: Hermann’s German wine town, the capitol at Jefferson City and ragtime Sedalia between the two big cities.

Chicago → Quincy · 415 km · ≈ 4 h 20 min

Amtrak · IDOT · Siemens Charger + Venture coaches

America’s longest continuously running state-sponsored train: the Illinois Zephyr has run since November 1971, joined by the Carl Sandburg in 2006, across the prairie to Quincy on the Mississippi.

Oklahoma City → Fort Worth · 332 km · 4 h

Amtrak · ODOT/TxDOT · Superliner · GE P42DC

Oklahoma’s only Amtrak train and the sole daily rail link into Texas, timed at Fort Worth to meet the Chicago–LA Texas Eagle.

Grand Rapids → Chicago · 283 km · 4 h 4 min

Amtrak · MDOT · Siemens Venture · Charger

Amtrak’s Michigan train from Grand Rapids by Holland and Bangor to St. Joseph on Lake Michigan, then round the south of the lake to Chicago; named after the Pere Marquette Railway’s trains, it has run since 1984.

Raleigh → Charlotte · 278 km · 3 h 10 min

Amtrak · NCDOT · NCDOT F59PH · rebuilt streamliner cars

North Carolina’s home-grown corridor: the state owns the trains, a fleet of rebuilt 1960s streamliner cars, running four round trips a day.

San Jose → Auburn · 270 km · 3 h 15 min

Amtrak · CCJPA · California Car · Siemens Charger

Amtrak’s fourth-busiest route, along San Pablo Bay from Silicon Valley to the Sierra foothills; one daily train runs the full climb to Auburn.

Boston → Brunswick · 233 km · 3 h 30 min

Amtrak · NNEPRA · Amfleet · GE P42DC

Maine’s state-run link passed 10 million riders in December 2024, serving coastal Old Orchard Beach and the outlet town of Freeport.

New Orleans → Mobile · 233 km · 3 h 43 min

Amtrak · Siemens Charger + Amfleet coaches

The Gulf Coast’s first passenger trains since Hurricane Katrina: from August 2025 two a day have run from New Orleans along the Mississippi shore through Bay St. Louis, Gulfport and Biloxi to Mobile.

Chicago → Milwaukee · 138 km · 1 h 29 min

Amtrak · IDOT/WisDOT · Horizon · Siemens Charger

The Midwest’s busiest corridor: seven round trips a day linking downtown Chicago and Milwaukee in about 90 minutes.

Denver → Winter Park · 90 km · 2 h 11 min

Amtrak · Superliner bi-level cars

Amtrak’s revived ski train climbs more than 1,100 m through 28 tunnels and spills skiers out steps from Winter Park’s lifts.

Bryson City → Nantahala Gorge · 71 km · 4 h 30 min

Great Smoky Mountains Railroad · EMD diesel · Baldwin 1702 steam

The spectacular train-wreck scene in The Fugitive (1993) was staged on this line; the wrecked locomotive still sits trackside near Dillsboro.

Clarkdale → Perkinsville · 64 km · 4 h

Verde Canyon Railroad · EMD FP7 · vintage coaches

Two 1953 FP7 diesels, once Alaska Railroad engines, thread a 680-ft curved tunnel and a red-rock canyon that shelters nesting bald eagles.

Napa → St. Helena · 58 km · 3 h

Napa Valley Wine Train · Alco FPA4 · 1915 Pullman cars

Guests wine and dine in restored early-1900s Pullman lounge cars behind vintage 1950s Alco diesels, rolling past Napa vineyards at a tasting pace.

North Conway → Crawford Notch · 38 km · 2 h

Conway Scenic Railroad · EMD GP38 diesels, dome & open cars

Follows the 1875 Maine Central grade up Crawford Notch, creeping across the curved Frankenstein Trestle high above the Saco.

Cass → Bald Knob · 35 km · 4 h 30 min

Mountain Rail WV · WV State Parks · Shay geared steam

Home to the world’s largest fleet of geared Shay steam locomotives, grinding up 11% grades to Bald Knob, 4,842 ft. West Virginia’s third-highest point.

Hood River → Parkdale · 34 km · 2 h 30 min

Mount Hood Railroad · EMD GP9 · excursion coaches

Climbs the orchard-filled Hood River valley toward 11,240-ft Mount Hood, reversing up one of just five railroad switchbacks still in regular US use.

Ely → Ruth · 22 km · 1 h 30 min

Nevada Northern Railway Museum · 1910 Baldwin & Alco steam, wooden coaches

America’s best-preserved steam-era short line: the “Ghost Train of Old Ely” still runs its 1910 locomotives out of a National Historic Landmark copper yard.

Cañon City → Parkdale · 19 km · 1 h

Royal Gorge Route Railroad · F40PH diesels, Vista Domes

Rides the canyon won in the 1879 “Royal Gorge War”, the Arkansas River alongside and a suspension bridge 291 m overhead.

Manitou Springs → Pikes Peak Summit · 14 km · 1 h 10 min

Broadmoor Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway · Stadler cog railcars

North America’s highest railway has climbed to the 4,302 m summit that inspired “America the Beautiful” since 1891; Swiss railcars took over the grade in 2021.

Fort Bragg → Glen Blair · 11 km · 1 h 30 min

California Western Railroad · GP9 diesel · vintage motorcar

Nicknamed the “Skunk” in 1925 for its reeking gas railcars, you smelled it before you saw it, still winding out of Fort Bragg through the coast redwoods.

Georgetown → Silver Plume · 7 km · 1 h 15 min

Georgetown Loop Railroad · 3-ft narrow-gauge steam

To gain 640 ft between two towns just 2 miles apart, the narrow gauge spirals over itself on the Devil’s Gate High Bridge, an 1884 marvel rebuilt in 1984.

Strasburg → Paradise · 7 km · 25 min

Strasburg Rail Road · Baldwin & CN steam, wooden coaches

Chartered in 1832, America’s oldest continuously operating railroad still steams through Lancaster County’s Amish farmland.

Marshfield Base Station → Mount Washington Summit · 4.8 km · 40 min

Mount Washington Cog Railway · Marsh-rack steam & biodiesel

The world’s first mountain-climbing cog railway (1869): still shoving trains up a 37% grade to New England’s stormiest, windiest summit.

Chattanooga (St. Elmo) → Lookout Mountain (Point Park) · 1.6 km · 10 min

CARTA · Two counterbalanced cars with midway passing loop

’America’s Most Amazing Mile’ since 1895: the 72.7% grade near the summit ranks among the steepest on any passenger railway.

Johnstown → Westmont · 0.27 km · ≈ 2 min

CamTran · Vehicular incline

Built after the 1889 flood so Johnstown could flee uphill: one of the world’s steepest vehicular inclines, still hauling cars up Yoder Hill.

Pittsburgh (West Carson Street) → Duquesne Heights · 0.24 km · 3 min

Society for the Preservation of the Duquesne Heights Incline · Original 1877 J.G. Brill wooden cars in cherry and oak

Original 1877 wooden Brill cars still climb the 30-degree grade to Grandview Avenue and Pittsburgh’s postcard skyline overlook.

Pittsburgh (Station Square) → Mount Washington · 0.19 km · 2 min

Pittsburgh Regional Transit · Two counterbalanced 23-seat cars, electric since 1935

Opened 1870, the oldest continuously operating funicular in the United States, and still a fare-integrated everyday transit link up Mount Washington.

Los Angeles (Hill Street) → Bunker Hill (California Plaza) · 0.09 km · 1 min

Angels Flight Railway Foundation · Twin 1901 cars Olivet and Sinai, restored 2017

Billed the world’s shortest incorporated railway since 1901, the 91 m Bunker Hill hop costs $1.50 and starred in film noir and La La Land.

Dubuque (Fourth Street) → Fenelon Place · 0.09 km · 1 min

Fenelon Place Elevator Company · Two counterbalanced house-shaped cars, winched at 41 degrees

Built in 1882 so banker J.K. Graves could ride the bluff home for lunch, and billed as the world’s shortest, steepest scenic railway.