Cardinal (train)

The Cardinal is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York Penn Station and Chicago Union Station via Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Charlottesville, Charleston, Huntington, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. Along with the Floridian and Lake Shore Limited, it is one of three trains linking the Northeast and Chicago. The 1,146-mile (1,844 km) trip between New York and Chicago is scheduled for 281⁄4 hours. The Cardinal has three round trips each week, departing New York City on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and departing Chicago on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Prior to being discontinued in 2019, the Hoosier State provided service on the portion of the Cardinal's route between Indianapolis and Chicago on the other four days of the week. The Cardinal's ridership was 82,705 in fiscal year 2023, a 3.0% increase from FY2022, but approximately 25% below its pre-COVID-19 pandemic ridership of about 109,000 in FY2019. In the two fiscal years prior to the pandemic (FY2018 and FY2019), ridership had increased 12.5%. In FY2020, the Cardinal earned $7.1 million on expenses of $22.6M—a revenue-to-cost ratio of 31%, the second lowest among all Amtrak routes.