Lake Shore Limited

Lake Shore Limited

300px Lake Shore Limited #49 entering Croton–Harmon.
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Active
Locale	Midwest and Northeast United States
Predecessor	Lake Shore
First service	October 1, 1975
Current operator(s)	Amtrak
Ridership	373,331 (FY 2014)
Route
Start	Chicago, Illinois
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)	48/448–49/449
On-board services
Sleeping arrangements	Roomettes and bedrooms
Catering facilities	Dining car and on-board cafe
Technical
Rolling stock	Heritage or Viewliner diner Amfleet coaches and lounges Viewliner sleepers
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Track owner(s)	MNRR, CSXT, NS, MBTA, AMTK
Route map Legend Legend Dist. Station 0 mi  0 km  Chicago Union Station Illinois Indiana border 84 mi  135 km  South Bend 102 mi  164 km  Elkhart 155 mi  249 km  Waterloo Indiana Ohio border 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 Ohio Pennsylvania border 435 mi  700 km  Erie Pennsylvania New York border Empire Service to Niagara Falls 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 to Rutland 800 mi  1287 km  Schenectady 818 mi  1316 km  Albany–Rensselaer 871 mi  1402 km  Rhinecliff–Kingston 886 mi  1426 km  Poughkeepsie 927 mi  1492 km  Croton – Harmon 959 mi  1543 km  New York Penn Station New York Massachusetts border 867 mi  1395 km  Pittsfield 919 mi  1479 km  Springfield Vermonter and Shuttle 973 mi  1566 km  Worcester 996 mi  1603 km  Framingham 1016 mi  1635 km  Boston Back Bay 1017 mi  1637 km  Boston South Station

The Lake Shore Limited is an overnight Amtrak passenger train service between Chicago and the Northeastern United States. The train uses the former main line of the New York Central Railroad. In Albany, New York it divides, with separate sections serving New York City and Boston. Amtrak began service in 1975; its Lake Shore had operated over the same route in 1971–72. The train is named for the New York Central's Lake Shore Limited, which was discontinued in 1956.

History

See also: Lake Shore Limited (New York Central Railroad train) and Lake Shore

The Lake Shore Limited is named after one of its illustrious predecessors that ran on the famed Water Level Route of the New York Central. Like the present day Lake Shore Limited, the New York Central 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.

Amtrak did not include service over the New York Central's Water Level Route in its original route plan; Chicago–New York traffic would be handled by the Broadway Limited which operated over the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line via Pittsburgh. Between May 1971 – January 1972 Amtrak operated the Lake Shore over the route with support from the state of Ohio. The modern Lake Shore Limited began running October 31, 1975 with both New York and Boston sections.

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.

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. 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.

Possible future

In the January 2011 issue of Trains Magazine, this route was listed as one of five routes to undergo improvement evaluation by Amtrak in FY 2011, just as the previous five routes (Sunset, Eagle, Zephyr, Capitol, and Cardinal) had been examined in FY 2010.

Amtrak published its Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) for the Lake Shore Limited in September 2011. Amtrak outlined two initiatives for improving the performance of the train:

• Operations: Amtrak proposed moving the Lake Shore Limited to an earlier eastbound departure time from Chicago. It currently departs at 9:30 PM, to facilitate connections from oft-late West Coast trains. The improved departure time would add $2 million in yearly revenue.
• Club-Diner: The dining car on the Lake Shore Limited would be converted to a so-called "Club-Diner". It would stay open during the entire journey, instead of just during set meal times, and would cease accepting cash. The existing lounge/cafe car would upgrade its offerings to include salads and sandwiches previously introduced on the Acela Express. Amtrak's desired goal was to bridge a perceived intermediate gap between the existing cafe offerings and the higher-priced fare in the diner.

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.

Operations

File:Lake Shore Limited map.svg

Geographic route of the Lake Shore Limited with major stops indicated.

File:A Lake Shore Limited train backing into Chicago Union Station.jpg

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

File:Lake Shore Limited locomotive separation.jpg

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

A typical Lake Shore Limited features both Boston (numbers 448/449) and New York (numbers 48/49) sections, which run combined between Chicago and Albany. The New York section includes a baggage car, Heritage Fleet dining car, two Viewliner sleeping cars, an Amfleet II Cafe car, and four (sometimes five) Amfleet II coaches. The Boston section has its own baggage car, one Viewliner sleeping car, two (sometimes three) coaches, and an Amfleet cafe car. During the 2000s and 2010s the Lake Shore Limited carried either a Horizon Fleet or Amfleet lounge car. 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. Amtrak's only Viewliner-type Dining Car, the Indianapolis #8400, is assigned to Lake Shore Limited 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 P32 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.

As of April 2015, a typical consist has been: two P42 locomotives, Viewliner baggage car, Viewliner sleeper, two Amfleet II coaches, Amfleet II Cafe (Boston & New York sections split here), four Amfleet II coaches, Heritage or Viewliner diner, two Viewliner sleepers, and a Viewliner baggage car.

Route details

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); between Chicago and Boston 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 Poughkeepsie, the Lake Shore rides on trackage belonging to the following CSX Transportation subdivisions: Cleveland Terminal, Erie West, Lake Shore, Buffalo Terminal, Rochester, Mohawk, Selkirk, and Hudson. From Poughkeepsie to the Bronx, the train operates on Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line. And Amtrak tracks are used twice: between Hoffman and Schenectady; and from the Bronx to Penn Station. The Albany-Boston extension 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).

There is a short distance of trackage between Albany and Schenectady that allows for 110-mile-per-hour (177 km/h) operations. Delays to trains 448 and 449 are common due to the high amount of freight traffic between Albany and Worcester. Also, trains 448 and 449 operate on mainly single-track railroad.

Station stops

The Lake Shore Limited runs eastbound as #48 from Chicago Union Station to New York Penn Station, returning westbound as #49. Station stops (in eastbound order) are South Bend, Elkhart, and Waterloo, Indiana; Bryan, Toledo, Sandusky, Elyria, and Cleveland, Ohio; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Buffalo-Depew, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Schenectady, Poughkeepsie, and Croton–Harmon, New York. The Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited runs eastbound as #448 from Albany-Rensselaer through Massachusetts with terminus at Boston South Station, returning westbound as #449. Station stops (in eastbound order) include Pittsfield, Springfield, Worcester, Framingham, and Boston (Back Bay Station), Massachusetts.

Service to Poughkeepsie, New York began on November 8, 2010.

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.

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. Amtrak studied restoring the Hammond-Whiting stop in 2010–2011 but rejected it because of operational considerations.

External links

• Amtrak - Lake Shore Limited