Illini andSaluki

TheIllini in Chicago in 2024
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Active
Locale	Illinois
First service	December 19, 1973 (1973-12-19) (Illini) October 30, 2006 (2006-10-30) (Saluki)
Current operator	Amtrak
Annual ridership	296,616 (FY 24)  9.9%[a][1]
Route
Termini	Chicago Carbondale
Stops	9
Distance travelled	310 miles (500 km)
Average journey time	5 hours, 30 minutes[2]
Service frequency	2 daily round trips
Train number	390–393
On-board services
Classes	Coach Class Business Class
Disabled access	Train lower level, most stations
Catering facilities	Café
Baggage facilities	Overhead racks
Technical
Rolling stock	Superliner
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Operating speed	56 mph (90 km/h) (avg.) 79 mph (127 km/h) (top)
Track owner	CN
Route map Show interactive map Legend Amtrak Empire Builder & Hiawatha 0 mi 0 km Chicago St. Charles Air Line Central Station ( 1971– 1972 ) otherAmtrak services 25 mi 40 km Homewood 57 mi 92 km Kankakee 82 mi 132 km Gilman 115 mi 185 km Rantoul 129 mi 208 km Champaign–Urbana 176 mi 283 km Decatur ( 1981– 1983 ) 174 mi 280 km Mattoon 201 mi 323 km Effingham 254 mi 409 km Centralia 289 mi 465 km Du Quoin 310 mi 499 km Carbondale City of New Orleans This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram map

TheIllini andSaluki are a pair ofpassenger trains operated byAmtrak along a 310-mile (500 km) route betweenChicago andCarbondale, Illinois. They are part of Amtrak'sIllinois Service and are primarily funded by the state ofIllinois. The service provides two daily roundtrips,Saluki being the morning trains andIllini the afternoon trains. The route is coextensive with the far northern leg of the long-distanceCity of New Orleans.

TheIllini has operated since 1973; a previous version operated in 1971–1972 between Chicago and Champaign. TheSaluki debuted in 2006. In fiscal year 2023, theIllini andSaluki carried a combined 270,017 passengers, a 20.4% increase from FY2022.^[3]

TheIllinois Central Railroad's main line between Chicago andNew Orleans ran through Champaign–Urbana and Carbondale, along the east side of Illinois.^[4] At the formation of Amtrak in 1971, the Illinois Central still operated a number of services from itsCentral Station in Chicago over this route, including theIllini andShawnee (Chicago-Carbondale), theCity of New Orleans and thePanama Limited (both, Chicago–New Orleans), plus theCity of Miami (Chicago–Birmingham).^[5]

Amtrak retained two trains on this route: theCity of New Orleans (which it named thePanama Limited) and theShawnee. Amtrak brought back theIllini name on November 14, 1971, as a Chicago-Champaign train, operating in conjunction with theCampus. It was named for theIllini, from which the state of Illinois and theFighting Illini mascot of theUniversity of Illinois Urbana–Champaign get their names.^[6] Amtrak discontinued theCampus andIllini on March 5, 1972. Both trains usedCentral Station, which Amtrak was abandoning; Amtrak judged that the additional 35–40 minutes necessary to serveUnion Station made the schedule impractical. The 1972Illini made its last trip on March 3.^[7]

Amtrak revived theIllini on December 19, 1973, again as a Chicago–Champaign service. The restoration was part of $1.5 million expansion program which included theBlack Hawk (Chicago–Rockford–Dubuque), theState House (St. Louis–Chicago), and supplemental funding for theRock Island's two remaining Rockets (Chicago–Peoria and Chicago–Rock Island). The state desired to extend theIllini toDecatur, but doing so involved a switch from the Illinois Central to theNorfolk & Western atTolono, south of Champaign. The connection between the lines was in poor condition, and no one would take responsibility for repairing it.^[8][9]

Amtrak finally extended theIllini to Decatur on July 2, 1981. Decatur had last seen service in 1971 from the Norfolk & Western'sCity of Decatur (Chicago–Decatur) and theWabash'sWabash Cannon Ball (Detroit–St. Louis). Neither train had been retained by Amtrak. The new Amtrak service used the old Wabashstation, which as of 2010^[update] still stands and has become an antique store. Poor ridership prompted Illinois to withdraw its support for the Decatur stop, and Amtrak cut theIllini back to Champaign on July 10, 1983.^[10][11]

On January 12, 1986, Amtrak extended theIllini to Carbondale to replace theShawnee, which had been canceled because of budget cuts.^[12] Service began atGilman on October 26, 1986, andDu Quoin on August 25, 1989.^[13] TheIllini service was nearly canceled in 1996, but local communities along the route pledged funds to keep it running.^[14]

A second train, theSaluki, was added on October 30, 2006, in response to increased demand on theIllini and other Illinois Service trains in the 2005–2006 fiscal year.^[15] TheSaluki was named for the mascot ofSouthern Illinois University, which is located in the train's southern terminus of Carbondale.^[16] Its morning schedule complements the afternoon schedule of theIllini.

Amtrak ran an extra over the route, theEclipse Express, for thesolar eclipse of August 21, 2017.^[17]

A typicalIllini orSaluki consists of oneSiemens Charger locomotive and sevenSuperliner coaches.^[18]

Since the early 2010s, CN has required that Amtrak trains on the Chicago–Carbondale route have 32 axles (one locomotive and seven passenger cars) in order to properly trigger grade crossing detection devices on the route. Trains typically had severalAmfleet orHorizon Fleet passenger cars; unoccupiedHeritage Fleet dining cars and baggage cars, then laterViewliner II baggage cars, were used to meet the axle count. In 2020, CN began requiring Amtrak to use trains with seven bilevel Superliner cars, rather than less-heavy single-level equipment. This meant that 14 Superliners required for theIllini andSaluki could not be used for long-distance trains.^[18]

In October 2024, Amtrak was awarded a $59 million federal grant to install shunt enhancer devices on its locomotives and cab cars to remove this requirement. When completed, this will allow single-level equipment to again be assigned to the route, freeing up the Superliners for other trains.^[19]

TheIllini andSaluki operates over theCanadian National Railway, successor to the Illinois Central. The route is 309 miles (497 km) long.^[20]

TheChicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE) is in the preliminary design phase for the Grand Crossing Project. This project will reroute theIllini,Saluki, andCity of New Orleans trains from Canadian National Railway's tracks toNorfolk Southern'sChicago Line in theGreater Grand Crossing neighborhood in Chicago. This will eliminate a time-consumingswitchback on theSt. Charles Air Line into Chicago Union Station.^[21]

The trains have stops near three major Illinois stateuniversities: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Southern Illinois University, andEastern Illinois University inCharleston (nearMattoon). As a result, university students account for a significant portion of passengers.^[22]

The entire route is in theU.S. state ofIllinois.

City	Station	Connections
Chicago	Chicago Union Station	Amtrak (long-distance):California Zephyr,Cardinal,City of New Orleans,Empire Builder,Floridian,Lake Shore Limited,Southwest Chief,Texas Eagle Amtrak (intercity):Blue Water,Borealis,Hiawatha,Illinois Zephyr & Carl Sandburg,Lincoln Service,Pere Marquette,Wolverine Metra:BNSFHCMDNMDWNCSSWS Chicago "L":Blue (atClinton)BrownOrangePinkPurple (atQuincy) Local buses:CTA,Pace Intercity buses:Amtrak Thruway,Greyhound,Megabus,Peoria Charter
Homewood	Homewood	Metra:ME Amtrak:City of New Orleans Pace
Kankakee	Kankakee	Amtrak:City of New Orleans
Gilman	Gilman
Rantoul	Rantoul
Champaign-Urbana	Illinois Terminal	Champaign–Urbana Mass Transit District Amtrak:City of New Orleans Burlington Trailways Greyhound Lines Peoria Charter
Mattoon	Mattoon	Amtrak:City of New Orleans Greyhound Lines
Effingham	Effingham	Amtrak:City of New Orleans
Centralia	Centralia	Amtrak:City of New Orleans
Du Quoin	Du Quoin
Carbondale	Southern Illinois Multimodal Station	JAX Mass Transit Amtrak:City of New Orleans Amtrak Thruway Greyhound Lines

• Sanders, Craig (2006).Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, Indiana:Indiana University Press.ISBN 978-0-253-34705-3.
• Schafer, Mike (1996).Classic American Railroads. Saint Paul, MN: MBI.ISBN 978-0-7603-0239-2.OCLC 768619768.

Media related toIllini and Saluki at Wikimedia Commons

• Illinois Services – Amtrak

• Amtrak routes
• Passenger rail transportation in Illinois
• Railway services introduced in 1973
• Railway services introduced in 2006
• 1973 establishments in Illinois
• 2006 establishments in Illinois

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