List of major cities in U.S. lacking Amtrak service

Several major cities and regional business centers in the continental United States lack Amtrak service. Five of these metropolitan areas boast more than one million residents. However, some of these cities may be served by Thruway Motorcoach. There is no Amtrak service outside of 46 of the contiguous states and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. There is no Amtrak service to the states of South Dakota or Wyoming. A partial list of the cities not directly served by Amtrak is as follows (in order by decreasing population of metropolitan area):

This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

City	Metropolitan area population (2012 est.)	Notes
Phoenix, Arizona	4,329,534	Service ended in June 1996 after reroute of the Sunset Limited. Service to Maricopa, a nearby suburb.
Las Vegas, Nevada	2,000,759	Lost service with the discontinuance of the Desert Wind in 1997.
Columbus, Ohio	1,944,002	Lost service with the discontinuance of the National Limited in 1979.
Nashville, Tennessee	1,726,793	Lost service with the discontinuance of the Floridian in 1979.
Louisville, Kentucky	1,251,351	Lost service with the discontinuance of the Floridian in 1979; service restored from Chicago in 1999, lost again with the discontinuance of the Kentucky Cardinal in 2003.
Tulsa, Oklahoma	951,880	Largest metro that never had Amtrak service.
Knoxville, Tennessee	848,350	Never had Amtrak service.
Allentown–Bethlehem, Pennsylvania	827,171	Never had Amtrak service.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana	815,298	Never had Amtrak service. New service from New Orleans has been studied and has support.
McAllen, Texas	806,552	Never had Amtrak service.
Dayton, Ohio	800,792	Lost service with the discontinuance of the National Limited in 1979.
Akron, Ohio	702,262	Service gained in 1998 with the rerouting of the Broadway Limited, then lost it in 2005 with the discontinuance of the Three Rivers
Colorado Springs, Colorado	668,353	Never had Amtrak service.
Boise, Idaho	637,896	Lost service with the discontinuance of the Pioneer in 1997.
Wichita, Kansas	636,105	Lost service with the discontinuance of the Lone Star in 1979; new service being studied with extension of Heartland Flyer to Kansas City or Newton.
Madison, Wisconsin	620,778	Never had Amtrak service. New service between Madison and Chicago via Milwaukee was planned but Wisconsin governor Scott Walker rejected federal funding for the project.
Ogden, Utah	612,441	Lost service in 1997 with the discontinuance of the Pioneer. Amtrak service available in nearby Salt Lake City.
Des Moines, Iowa	588,999	Never had Amtrak service. There are plans for a new service from Chicago to Des Moines and Omaha in the near future but there are no funds yet to go ahead with works.
Augusta, Georgia	575,898	Never had Amtrak service.
Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania	563,631	Never had Amtrak service.
Youngstown, Ohio	558,206	Lost service in 2005 with the discontinuance of the Three Rivers
Chattanooga, Tennessee	537,889	Never had Amtrak service.
Tri-Cities area (Kingsport/Johnson City/Bristol, Tennessee, Bristol, Virginia)	509,690	Never had Amtrak service.
Lexington, Kentucky	485,023	Never had Amtrak service.
Fayetteville, Arkansas	482,200	Never had Amtrak service.
Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana	447,193	Never had Amtrak service, planned service from Birmingham to Dallas/Fort Worth via Shreveport never materialized, service from the city to Dallas being studied by DOT.
Springfield, Missouri	444,617	Never had Amtrak service.
Corpus Christi, Texas	437,109	Never had Amtrak service.
York–Hanover, Pennsylvania	434,972	Never had Amtrak service.
Asheville, North Carolina	432,406	Never had Amtrak service.
Huntsville, Alabama	430,734	Never had Amtrak service.
Fort Wayne, Indiana	421,406	Lost service in 1990, when Broadway Limited rerouted.
Brownsville, Texas	415,557	Never had Amtrak service.
Mobile, Alabama	413,936	Service of the Sunset Limited has been suspended between New Orleans and Orlando since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.
Reading, Pennsylvania	413,491	Never had Amtrak service.
Manchester–Nashua, New Hampshire	402,922	Never had Amtrak service.
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina	394,542	Never had Amtrak service.
Quad Cities area (Davenport/Bettendorf, Iowa, Rock Island/Moline, Illinois)	382,630	New service probable around 2016?.
Peoria, Illinois	380,447	Experimental service between 1980 and 1981, called Prairie Marksman. New service being studied by Illinois DOT.
Montgomery, Alabama	377,149	Lost service with the discontinuance of the Floridian in 1979; service restored between 1989 and 1995, when Gulf Breeze was discontinued.
Tallahassee, Florida	375,371	Service of the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans has been suspended since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.
Rockford, Illinois	346,009	Lost service in 1981 when the Black Hawk was discontinued. New service planned by 2016?.
Evansville, Indiana	313,433	Never had Amtrak service.
Green Bay, Wisconsin	311,098	Never had Amtrak service.
Columbus, Georgia	310,531	Never had Amtrak service.
Roanoke, Virginia	310,118	Lost service in 1979 when Hilltopper was discontinued. Currently there are plans to restore service from the Northeast Corridor to the city by 2016.
Lubbock, Texas	297,669	Never had Amtrak service.
Fort Smith, Arkansas	280,521	Never had Amtrak service.
Duluth, Minnesota	279,452	Lost service in 1985 when North Star was discontinued. There are plans to restore passenger service from St. Paul before 2020.
Clarksville, Tennessee	274,342	Never had Amtrak service.
Gainesville, Florida	264,275	Never had Amtrak service.
Wilmington, North Carolina	263,429	Never had Amtrak service.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa	261,761	Never had Amtrak service.
Laredo, Texas	259,172	Lost service in 1981 with the cancellation of the Inter-American.
Amarillo, Texas	257,578	Never had Amtrak service.
Binghamton, New York	251,725	Never had Amtrak service.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota	237,251	South Dakota has never had Amtrak service.
College Station–Bryan, Texas	234,501	Lost service with the discontinuance of the Dallas-Houston section of the Texas Eagle in 1995.
Macon, Georgia	232,723	Never had Amtrak service.
Rochester, Minnesota	209,607	Never had Amtrak service.
Athens, Georgia	196,425	Never had Amtrak service.
Elmira-Corning, New York	187,820	Never had Amtrak service.
Joplin, Missouri	174,327	Never had Amtrak service.
Terre Haute, Indiana	170,943	Lost service with the discontinuance of the National Limited in 1979.
Monroe, Louisiana	170,053	Never had Amtrak service.
East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania	169,842	Never had Amtrak service.
Sioux City, Iowa	168,921	Never had Amtrak service.
Waterloo–Cedar Falls, Iowa	168,747	Never had Amtrak service.
Columbia, Missouri	168,535	Never had Amtrak service.
Abilene, Texas	166,963	Never had Amtrak service.
Billings, Montana	162,848	Lost service in 1979 when the North Coast Hiawatha was discontinued.
Pueblo, Colorado	160,852	Never had Amtrak service. Preliminary studies to add Pueblo as stop on the Southwest Chief have been undertaken.
Janesville, Wisconsin	160,418	Lost service in 2001 when the Lake Country Limited was discontinued.
Iowa City, Iowa	158,231	New service probable around 2016?.
Albany, Georgia	157,308	Never had Amtrak service.
Williamsport, Pennsylvania	155,349	Never had Amtrak service.
State College, Pennsylvania	153,990	Never had Amtrak service.
Alexandria, Louisiana	153,922	Never had Amtrak service.
Bangor, Maine	153,746	Never had Amtrak service. Extension of Downeaster service studied.
Midland, Texas	151,662	Never had Amtrak service.
Ithaca - Cortland, New York	150,900	Never had Amtrak service.
Florence–Muscle Shoals, Alabama	146,988	Never had Amtrak service.
Wheeling, West Virginia	146,420	Never had Amtrak service.
St. George, Utah	144,809	Although no line (nor any railroad tracks) runs through, the city is connected to Amtrak by Thruway Motorcoach.
Rapid City, South Dakota	138,738	South Dakota has never been served by Amtrak.
Bismarck, North Dakota	120,060	Lost service in 1979 when the North Coast Hiawatha was discontinued.
Owensboro, Kentucky	116,020	Never had Amtrak service.
Brunswick, Georgia	112,370	Never had Amtrak service.
Waterbury, Connecticut	110,366	Never had Amtrak service.
Lowell, Massachusetts	108,335	Never had Amtrak service.
Bay City, Michigan	107,771	Never had Amtrak service.
Dubuque, Iowa	95,097	Lost service in 1981 when the Black Hawk was discontinued. New service planned as an eventual extension of proposed Rockford service.
New Bedford, Massachusetts	94,807	Never had Amtrak service.
Cheyenne, Wyoming	94,483	Lost service in 1997 when the Pioneer was discontinued.

Other cities are not served directly due to inconvenient water barriers:

• San Francisco - trains stop across the bay in Oakland and Emeryville, California. Whereas trains once went from Oakland to San Francisco, they have been replaced by auto traffic (although the BART commuter heavy rail system operates a trans-bay tube underneath the bay and Amtrak-operated Caltrain connects to the Capitol Corridor and Coast Starlight in San Jose). However, Amtrak has worked on plans to resume the Coast Daylight service (which once existed as an Amtrak service but was rerouted to continue north to Portland and renamed the Coast Starlight) from San Francisco to Los Angeles since the late 1990s, which will, when launched, finally give San Francisco Amtrak rail service. More specific plans have been assembled within the last few years, but any restoration of service would start in 2013 [date inaccurate] at the earliest.
• St. Petersburg, Florida - trains stop across Tampa Bay in Tampa. Trains had previously crossed some of the bays in question. St. Petersburg lost service across the bay when CSX lacked adequate funds to maintain the bridge across the bay. The only other method of transportation is taxi. The TECO Line Streetcar System and HART buses both do not connect with the two areas, although express bus service exists between PSTA and HART.

Amtrak provides no service to Mexico. The closest Amtrak service to Mexico may be found at stations along the western portion of the Sunset Limited and southwestern portion of the Texas Eagle in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California; as well as the Pacific Surfliner service to Union Station in San Diego.

Phoenix, Arizona is served via Thruway Motorcoach from the Southwest Chief at Flagstaff, Arizona. The Sunset Limited stops three times a week at Maricopa, roughly 30 miles (48 km) south of the city; private taxis and the Maricopa MAX express bus are the only transportation from there to metro Phoenix, although MAX bus schedules do not coincide with Amtrak, which arrives during the night. Phoenix lost service in June 1996 after Southern Pacific (now part of the Union Pacific) threatened to abandon the line from Yuma.

Amtrak is currently studying rail lines formerly canceled that could renew service to some cities. Cities involved include Boise, Mobile, Tallahassee, the Quad Cities, Billings, and Wichita. Proposals for high-speed rail could also restore service for several cities. Both plans should reveal cities selected by 2010. Other services Amtrak intends on restoring include the Pioneer (serving Chicago-Seattle via the California Zephyr), the Black Hawk, the North Coast Hiawatha (serving Chicago-Seattle via the Empire Builder), and the New Orleans-Orlando segment of the Sunset Limited.

See also

• List of Amtrak routes
• List of Amtrak stations
• List of busiest Amtrak stations

External links

• Article on the missing markets that America's rail service doesn't serve (analysis and charts)
• Chart showing U.S. population centers and Amtrak service