Lake Shore Limited

Lake Shore Limited enteringCroton–Harmon station
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Locale	Midwest andNortheast United States
Predecessor	Lake Shore
First service	October 31, 1975
Current operator	Amtrak
Ridership	382,881 (FY 25)  -3.9%[a][1]
Route
Termini	Chicago, Illinois New York City Boston, Massachusetts
Stops	20 (Chicago–New York) 22 (Chicago–Boston)
Distance travelled	Chicago–New York: 959 miles (1,543 km) Chicago–Boston: 1,018 miles (1,638 km)[2]
Average journey time	Chicago–New York–Chicago:19+1⁄2–20+1⁄4 hours Chicago–Boston:21+1⁄2–22 hours[2]
Service frequency	Daily
Train numbers	48/448 (eastbound), 49/449 (westbound)
On-board services
Classes	Coach Class Sleeper Service
Disabled access	All train cars, most stations
Sleeping arrangements	Roomette (2 beds) Bedroom (2 beds) Bedroom Suite (4 beds) Accessible Bedroom (2 beds)
Catering facilities	Dining car,Café
Baggage facilities	Overhead racks, checked baggage available at selected stations
Technical
Rolling stock	Amfleet passenger cars Viewliner passenger cars GE Genesis locomotives
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Electrification	Third rail,750 V DC (New York area)
Operating speed	110 mph (180 km/h) (top) 46–50 mph (74–80 km/h) (avg)
Track owners	MNRR,CSX,NS,MBTA, Amtrak
Route map Show interactive map Legend Amtrakto Milwaukee,St. Paul, Seattle andPortland 0mi Chicago Amtrakto Quincy,Los Angeles, andEmeryville Amtrakto St. Louis,San Antonio, andLos Angeles Cardinal toNew York Amtrak toCarbondale toNew Orleans IL IN 16 mi 26 km Hammond–Whiting Bypassed 2003 Wolverine toPontiac Blue Water toPort Huron Pere Marquette toGrand Rapids Central Time Eastern Time 84 mi 135 km South Bend 102 mi 164 km Elkhart 155 mi 249 km Waterloo IN OH 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 FloridiantoMiami OH PA 435 mi 700 km Erie PA NY 483 mi 777 km Dunkirk Proposed   Empire Service toNiagara Falls Maple Leaf toToronto 528 mi 850 km Buffalo–Depew 589 mi 948 km Rochester 668 mi 1075 km Syracuse 722 mi 1162 km Utica Adirondack toMontreal Ethan Allen Express toBurlington 800 mi 1287 km Schenectady 818 mi 1316 km Albany–Rensselaer Traindivides 845 mi 1360 km Hudson Bypassed 2009 871 mi 1402 km Rhinecliff 886 mi 1426 km Poughkeepsie 927 mi 1492 km Croton–Harmon Northeast Corridor toWashington 959 mi 1543 km New York Northeast Corridor toBoston South NY MA 867 mi 1395 km Pittsfield New Haven–Springfield Line Connecticut River Line 919 mi 1479 km Springfield 973 mi 1566 km Worcester 996 mi 1603 km Framingham Northeast Corridor toNew York 1016 mi 1635 km Boston Back Bay 1017 mi 1637 km Boston South This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram map

TheLake Shore Limited is anovernightpassenger train operated byAmtrak betweenChicago and theNortheastern United States, with sections toNew York City andBoston. The central segment of the route runs along the southern shore ofLake Erie. East of Chicago, theLake Shore Limited follows the former main line of theLake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway toSouth Bend,Toledo,Cleveland, andBuffalo. From here the train takes theEmpire Corridor throughRochester andSyracuse toAlbany–Rensselaer station inRensselaer, New York. At that station, the traindivides, with one section continuing to Boston by way ofSpringfield, while the other continues along the Empire Corridor to New York City. The train is scheduled for19+1⁄2–20+1⁄4 hours for the 959 miles (1,543 km) between Chicago and New York, and21+1⁄2–22 hours for the 1,018 miles (1,638 km) between Chicago and Boston.

The train is descended from theNew York Central Railroad'strain of the same name, which operated on nearly the same Chicago–New York/Boston route from 1897 to 1956. Amtrak briefly revived the train as the Chicago–New YorkLake Shore in 1971–72. TheLake Shore Limited was introduced as a Chicago–New York/Boston train in 1975. During fiscal year 2023,Lake Shore Limited carried 351,049 passengers.^[3]

TheLake Shore Limited is named after one of its predecessors that ran on the famedWater Level Route of theNew York Central Railroad (NYC). Like the present dayLake Shore Limited, the NYC edition offered service between New York and Boston and Chicago, although the New York Central usedLaSalle Street Station. The New York Central annulled theLake Shore Limited in 1956 as part of a system-wide reorganization. Service over the Water Level Route continued until the formation of Amtrak, with the last route being theNew England States and an unnamedPenn Central successor.^[4]

Amtrak assumed operation of most intercity passenger trains in the United States on May 1, 1971, including those of Penn Central. Service west ofBuffalo was not included in Amtrak's initial system map, and there was also no service between Albany and Boston. Chicago–New York traffic was handled by theBroadway Limited using thePennsylvania Railroad's main line viaPittsburgh.

Just nine days later, on May 10, 1971, Amtrak debuted the Chicago–New YorkLake Shore, using the "Water Level Route" of the New York Central'sLake Shore Limited. The 960-mile (1,540 km) daily service was scheduled for 17 hours 30 minutes and carried train numbers 60 and 61.^[5] TheLake Shore was the only train to serveCleveland, which had been the largest city left out of the initial system. Amtrak introduced the route on the understanding thatOhio andNew York would subsidize two-thirds of the cost of the train. The plan initially included aMichigan-funded connection betweenToledo andDetroit, but this was cancelled due to poor track conditions.^[6][7]

TheLake Shore was the last long-haul train to useCleveland Union Terminal, with the last departure occurring on December 31, 1971. Amtrak chafed at Union Terminal's high rent and the need to switch to electric locomotives to service Union Terminal's platforms. Additionally, the two daily trains did not even begin to justify a facility as large as Union Terminal. For the last week of theLake Shore's runs Amtrak used a temporary platform west of Union Terminal near theDetroit–Superior Bridge to avoid incurring a year's fees ($250,000) for a week's use.^[8] Amtrak discontinued the train on January 6, 1972, after New York failed to meet its funding obligations.^[9]

The present-dayLake Shore Limited began running October 31, 1975, with both New York and Boston sections.^[10] The westbound train served Cleveland during daytime hours, departing for Chicago 7:30 AM; eastbound passengers departed for New York City at 11:20 pm.^[11] Amtrak's October 1981 timetable pushed the westbound Cleveland departure to 12:35 AM.^[12]

On October 15, 1979, theLake Shore Limited became the first Amtrak service to use rebuiltHeritage Fleet equipment withhead end power.^[10] TheLake Shore Limited was the last train to use the decayingBuffalo Central Terminal, departing on October 28, 1979. Since then it has usedBuffalo–Depew.^[13] Its New York terminus changed fromGrand Central Terminal toPennsylvania Station in 1991 following the opening of theEmpire Connection.^[14]

On the night of August 3, 1994, around 3:45 am, the westboundLake Shore Limited, with two locomotives and fifteen cars, and carrying roughly 320 passengers, and nineteen crew members, derailed onConrail-owned tracks (now owned by CSX) nearBatavia, New York.^[15] 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. TheNational Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause were the wheels coming off a section of flattened rail.^[16]

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.^{[citation needed]} Service to Poughkeepsie began on November 8, 2010.^[17] In 2010–11, Amtrak studied restoring theHammond–Whiting station stop just east of the Illinois-Indiana border (which had been dropped in 2003), but ultimately did not restore it due to the difficulty of routing trains to the station's single platform.^[18]

Due to planned repair work on theFreedom Tunnel,Spuyten Duyvil Bridge, and Track 19 in New York's Penn Station, the New York section was discontinued from May 26 to September 3, 2018. Passengers traveling to New York City could transfer atAlbany–Rensselaer toEmpire Service trains, which operated into Grand Central Terminal during the outage.^[19]

In January 2019, Amtrak removed the baggage car from the Boston section of the train, thereby eliminating all checked baggage and bike service between Boston and Albany. The New York section retained its baggage car.^[20] From October 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021, daily service was reduced to three trains per week due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.^[21][22]

A sinkhole under thePost Road Branch tracks inEast Greenwich, New York, was discovered in May 2025, causing theBerkshire Flyer andLake Shore Limited to be replaced with buses east of Albany.^[23] As of October 2025^[update], service is expected to resume on December 1, 2025.^[24]

During the 2000s and 2010s theLake Shore Limited carried either aHorizon Fleet or Amfleet lounge car.^[25] 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.^[26][27] In July 2016, Amtrak once again replaced the Lake Shore's full-service dining car with an Amfleet II diner-lite. This was due to Heritage shortages, as well as a multi-year delay in delivery of the new CAF Viewliner II cars, including 25 diners.^[28]

In June 2018, Amtrak replaced the Amfleet II diner-lites with Viewliner II diners and adjusted the on board service by serving a selection of primarily-cold, exclusively pre-packaged boxed meals. The dining car is also now available as lounge space for sleeping car passengers even outside of meal times, but is closed to coach passengers.^[29][30] In January 2019, Amtrak significantly updated the boxed meal service to offer a full continental buffet at breakfast, and multiple hot entrées for lunch and dinner.^[31]

In October 2019, Amtrak again modified the on board dining service for sleeping car passengers by serving the pre-prepared meals on new reusable trays instead of in single use boxes to improve the meal presentation along with a refresh of the entree choices.^[32]

Amtrak published its Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) for theLake Shore Limited in September 2011. One idea was to change the train's eastbound departure time from Chicago to be earlier. It currently departs at 9:30 pm, to facilitate connections from often-late West Coast trains. The improved departure time would add $2 million in yearly revenue. Amtrak considered more radical changes to the operations of theLake Shore Limited, including a re-route over theChicago–Detroit Line toDearborn, but rejected them.^[18] This would be the first full New York City to Chicago train via Michigan since the New York Central'sWolverine.

In the late 1990s, Amtrak considered adding aninfill station atDunkirk, New York, 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.^[33] In 2021, Amtrak again proposed adding a station between Buffalo and Erie inChautauqua County, New York, in either Dunkirk orWestfield. Plans moved forward in 2022 to study the exact placement of the stop.^[34]

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TheLake Shore Limited consists of a New York section (train number 48 eastbound, 49 westbound) and a Boston section (448 eastbound, 449 westbound), which run combined between Chicago and Albany. The distance between Chicago and New York is 959 miles (1,543 km), while the distance between Chicago and Boston is 1,017 miles (1,637 km).

The train operates over the trackage of five railroad companies. From Chicago to Cleveland, the train rides theChicago Line, which belongs toNorfolk Southern Railway, and is also used by Amtrak's Chicago-Miami, train, theFloridian. From Cleveland toHoffmans, theLake Shore Limited rides on trackage belonging to the followingCSX Transportation subdivisions:Cleveland Terminal,Erie West,Buffalo Terminal,Rochester,Syracuse Terminal,Mohawk,Selkirk, andHudson.

The New York section operates onMetro-North Railroad'sHudson Line fromPoughkeepsie toSpuyten Duyvil inthe Bronx. Amtrak tracks are used twice: between Hoffmans and Poughkeepsie; and from the Bronx to Penn Station. The New York section only stops to discharge passengers southbound. Northbound trains only stop at Croton-Harmon and Poughkeepsie to receive passengers.

The Boston section runs on the trackage of several companies as well. The train travels on Amtrak'sPost Road Branch fromRensselaer to nearbySchodack, from Schodack to Worcester on CSX'sBerkshire andBoston subdivisions, and fromWorcester toSouth Station on theFramingham/Worcester Line track owned and operated by theMassachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). This section only stops eastbound to discharge passengers from Worcester eastward, while westbound trains only stop to receive passengers atBack Bay andFramingham.

There is a short distance of trackage between Hudson and Schenectady that allows for 110-mile-per-hour (177 km/h) operations.^{[citation needed]} The Boston section is frequently delayed to the high amount of freight traffic on thesingle-track railroad between Albany and Worcester.^[35][36]

As of February 2019, theLake Shore Limited typically has twoP42DC locomotives (or oneP32AC-DM locomotive between New York and Albany), oneViewliner baggage car, threeAmfleet II coaches, oneAmfleet I split Business/Cafe car, one Viewliner II diner (exclusively accessible to sleeper passengers), and three Viewliner Sleepers.^{[citation needed]} As of August 2021^[update], Viewliner II sleepers were expected to be added to theLake Shore Limited that September.^[37]

In normal service, at Albany, the train splits into its Boston and New York sections. The New York section uses a single dual-mode P32AC-DM for third-rail power inPennsylvania Station. West of Albany, traditional diesel-only GE Genesis locomotives are used.

Duringfiscal year 2019, theLake Shore Limited carried 357,682 passengers, an increase of 5.9% from FY2018.^[38] In FY2016, the train had a total revenue of$28,563,624, an increase of 0.2% over FY2015.

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 theLake Shore Limited's ridership and revenues.^[18]

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