Texas Eagle

Texas Eagle inChicago, 2025
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail,higher-speed rail
Locale	Midwest,Southern United States, andSouthwestern United States (daily)
Predecessor	Inter-American
First service	October 2, 1981 (1981-10-02)
Current operator	Amtrak
Annual ridership	325,709 (FY 24)  10.6%[a][1]
Route
Termini	Chicago, Illinois San Antonio, Texas or Los Angeles, California
Stops	43
Distance travelled	1,306 mi (2,102 km)(to San Antonio) 2,728 mi (4,390 km)(to Los Angeles)
Average journey time	30 hours 56 minutes(San Antonio to Chicago) 32 hours 24 minutes(Chicago to San Antonio) 61 hours 44 minutes(Los Angeles to Chicago) 65 hours 43 minutes(Chicago to Los Angeles)[2]
Service frequency	Daily (tri-weekly to Los Angeles)
Train numbers	21, 22 (to San Antonio) 321, 322 (to St. Louis) 421, 422 (to Los Angeles)
On-board services
Classes	Coach Class First Class Sleeper Service
Disabled access	Train lower level, all stations
Sleeping arrangements	Roomette (2 beds) Bedroom (2 beds) Bedroom Suite (4 beds) Accessible Bedroom (2 beds) Family Bedroom (4 beds)
Catering facilities	Dining car (San Antonio-Los Angeles only),Café
Observation facilities	Sightseer lounge car
Baggage facilities	Overhead racks, checked baggage available at selected stations
Technical
Rolling stock	Superliner
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Operating speed	55 mph (89 km/h) (avg.) 100 mph (161 km/h) (top)[3]
Track owners	UP,BNSF,CN
Route map Show interactive map Legend Borealis,Empire Builder, and Hiawatha 0mi Chicago 37 mi 60 km Joliet 92 mi 148 km Pontiac 124 mi 200 km Normal 156 mi 251 km Lincoln 185 mi 298 km Springfield 237 mi 381 km Carlinville 257 mi 414 km Alton IL MO Mississippi River 284 mi 457 km St. Louis Missouri River Runner toKansas City 376 mi 605 km Arcadia Valley 453 mi 729 km Poplar Bluff MO AR 523 mi 842 km Walnut Ridge 560 mi 901 km Newport closed 1996 634 mi 1020 km Little Rock 677 mi 1090 km Malvern 694 mi 1117 km Arkadelphia 741 mi 1193 km Hope 774 mi 1246 km Texarkana AR TX Crescent toNew York proposed 840 mi 1352 km Marshall 864 mi 1390 km Longview 912 mi 1468 km Mineola 991 mi 1595 km Dallas branch discontinued 1995 Heartland Flyer toOklahoma City 1022 mi 1645 km Fort Worth 1051 mi 1691 km Cleburne 1125 mi 1811 km McGregor 1036 mi 1667 km Corsicana 1150 mi 1851 km Temple 1152 mi 1854 km College Station 1188 mi 1912 km Taylor 1223 mi 1968 km Austin 1247 mi 2007 km Houston 1253 mi 2017 km San Marcos Sunset Limited toNew Orleans 1306 mi 2102 km San Antonio daily tri-weekly 1475 mi 2374 km Del Rio 1601 mi 2577 km Sanderson 1692 mi 2723 km Alpine Central Time Mountain Time 1910 mi 3074 km El Paso TX NM Rio Grande 1998 mi 3215 km Deming 2058 mi 3312 km Lordsburg NM AZ Mountain Time Arizona Time 2176 mi 3502 km Benson 2226 mi 3582 km Tucson 2312 mi 3721 km Maricopa Phoenix discontinued 1996 2477 mi 3986 km Yuma AZ CA Arizona Time Pacific Time Indio closed 1998 2622 mi 4220 km Palm Springs Southwest Chief toChicago 2689 mi 4328 km Ontario 2696 mi 4339 km Pomona Coast Starlight toSeattle Pacific Surfliner 2728 mi 4390 km Los Angeles all stops areaccessible This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram map

TheTexas Eagle is along-distancepassenger train operated daily byAmtrak on a 1,306-mile (2,102 km) route betweenChicago,Illinois, andSan Antonio,Texas, with major stops inSt. Louis,Little Rock,Dallas,Fort Worth, andAustin. Three days per week, the trainjoins theSunset Limited in San Antonio and continues toLos Angeles viaEl Paso andTucson. The combined 2,728-mile (4,390 km) route is the longest in the United States and thesecond-longest in the Americas, after theCanadian.

Prior to 1988, the train was known simply as theEagle.

Amtrak'sTexas Eagle is the direct successor of theMissouri Pacific Railroad andTexas and Pacific Railway train of the same name, which was inaugurated in 1948 and ultimately discontinued in 1971. The route of Amtrak'sTexas Eagle is longer (Chicago toSan Antonio versusSt. Louis to San Antonio), but much of today's route is historically a part of the originalTexas Eagle route. St. Louis toTexarkana andTaylor, Texas, to San Antonio travels over former Missouri Pacific Railroad trackage, while the Texarkana toFort Worth segment traverses the former Texas and Pacific Railway. The T&P merged with MoPac in 1982; in turn MoPac was acquired byUnion Pacific in 1986.

TheEagle began on October 2, 1981, as a restructuring of theInter-American, which had operated a daily schedule from Chicago toLaredo, Texas, via San Antonio since 1973. From 1979 onward, it operated a section toHouston, Texas, which diverged atTemple, Texas. The newEagle dropped the Houston section, while its southern terminus was cut back from Laredo to San Antonio. The new train carriedSuperliner equipment, replacing theAmfleet coaches on theInter-American. In addition, the new train ran on a thrice-weekly schedule with athrough car on theSunset Limited toLos Angeles, although the latter was not announced until the April 1982 timetable.^[4][5][6][7]

On November 15, 1988, Amtrak revived a Houston section, this time diverging at Dallas and running over the route of theSouthern Pacific'sSunbeam. It was the first time passenger traffic had served that route since 1958. Amtrak had intended to operate theLone Star over this route back in the 1970 but the Southern Pacific declined to host the service and requested the National Arbitration Panel review the request. The Panel's consultant provided a reasonable cost estimate for track and signal upgrades but Amtrak abruptly withdrew the request in March 1974.^[8][9] With the change, Amtrak revived the nameTexas Eagle for the thrice-weekly Chicago-San Antonio/Houston train, while the off-day Chicago–St. Louis train remained theEagle. This section would be discontinued on September 10, 1995.^[10] On April 4, 2013, Amtrak opened a new station inHope, Arkansas, the hometown of former U.S. presidentBill Clinton.^[11]Arcadia Valley was added on November 17, 2016, servingIron County, Missouri.^[12]

In August 2023, Amtrak approved construction of a new station inDe Soto, Missouri for trains to stop at between St. Louis and Arcadia Valley.^[13]

As part of Amtrak's response to theCOVID-19 pandemic resulting in greatly depressed ridership, service was reduced to tri-weekly throughout the corridor October 11, 2020.^[14] In March 2021, Amtrak announced plans to return theTexas Eagle to its pre-pandemic schedule on May 24, 2021.^[15] However, the train began operating on a five days per week schedule in January 2022 due to a resurgence of the virus caused by theOmicron variant and remained so until March 2022.^[15][16]

In the August 2009 issue ofTrains, Brian Rosenwald, Amtrak's chief of product management, noted that theSunset Limited might be replaced by an extension of theTexas Eagle to Los Angeles: "We projected the revenue and looked at the logistics, and with a little bit of rescheduling came to the conclusion that we can make this happen with the equipment we have, and the additional revenue the train earns will more than cover the increased operating costs". The move would restore a connection to theCoast Starlight in both directions, and move boarding in Maricopa and Tucson, Arizona, to civilized times. "We are putting a stake in the ground: Triweekly needs to disappear," Rosenwald said.^[17] While the route of theSunset Limited would not be entirely replaced, the performance improvements listed explain what will happen:

• Conversion to dailyChicago–Los Angeles train
• Shortening of the schedule by 9 hours
• San Antonio–New Orleans stub service on a daily basis to connect with this train
• Use of the Diner-Lounge on the stub service

These changes would, in turn, create a through-car change similar to that of theEmpire Builder. Such service would originate from Los Angeles and split at San Antonio, and vice versa from New Orleans.^[18]

Amtrak suspended plans to convert theTexas Eagle/Sunset Limited into a daily train when UP opposed it, arguing that to run daily service, Amtrak would first have to invest more than $750 millions in infrastructure improvements along the route west of San Antonio.^[19] UP has subsequently made investments to increase the capacity of the Sunset Route by constructing new sidings and double track sections along the Route.^[20][21]

Passenger totals would double with daily service, according to the PRIIA study that looked atTexas Eagle/Sunset Limited service. It forecast an incremental improvement of more than 100,000 passengers from the daily service, which is already running in excess of 100,000 a year.^[22] However, Amtrak still lacks the equipment and funds needed to move to daily service.

In June 2021, SenatorJon Tester ofMontana added an amendment to the Surface Transportation Investment Act of 2021 which would require theU.S. Department of Transportation (not Amtrak itself) to evaluate daily service on all less frequent long-distance trains, meaning theTexas Eagle/Sunset Limited andCardinal.^[23] The bill passed theSenate Commerce Committee with bipartisan support,^[24][25] and was later rolled intoPresident Biden'sInfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which Congress passed on November 5, 2021.^[26] The report is known as theAmtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study and must be delivered to Congress within two years.^[27]

In June 2023, Amtrak submitted an application for a federal grant to increaseTexas Eagle/Sunset Limited service to operate daily.^[28]

As of August 2025^[update],^[29] the southboundTexas Eagle (train 21) departs Chicago 1:45 pm, running between Chicago and its first station stop inJoliet, parallel to theIllinois and Michigan Canal, along first theCanadian National'sFreeport Subdivision and thenJoliet Subdivision, which is also used byMetra'sHeritage Corridor and Amtrak'sLincoln Service. From Joliet, the train travels along Union Pacific rails, often parallel toInterstate 55, making station stops inPontiac,Bloomington–Normal,Lincoln,Springfield,Carlinville (a flag stop), andAlton before crossing theMississippi River to make its stop atSt. Louis'Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center, scheduled for 7:13 pm. After St. Louis, the train skirts theOzark Mountains, stopping inPoplar Bluff, Missouri, before crossing the state line into Arkansas. In Arkansas, the train stops inWalnut Ridge, the state capital ofLittle Rock, and the stations atMalvern,Arkadelphia,Hope, andTexarkana, on the Arkansas–Texas border.

Continuing into Texas, the train makes station stops inMarshall,Longview (bus connection withHouston),Mineola,Dallas andFort Worth, which has connections toOklahoma City via Amtrak'sHeartland Flyer, and from there the train travels on BNSF trackage. The train continues on, making stops inCleburne,McGregor,Temple (where the train resumes traveling on the Union Pacific),Taylor, the state capital ofAustin, andSan Marcos, with a scheduled arrival intoSan Antonio at 9:55 pm (the next day). A sleeping car and a coach (designated internally as train 421) are conveyed to theSunset Limited on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, departing San Antonio at 2:45 am.

The northboundTexas Eagle (train 22) leaves San Antonio at 7 am, splitting from the eastboundSunset Limited (train 422) on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The train arrives in Chicago at 1:44 pm the next day.

AmtrakTexas Eagle route

As of March 2025^[update], the typicalconsist of theTexas Eagle includes:^[30][31]

• 1GE Genesis/Siemens ALC-42 locomotive
• 1Superliner transition sleeper
• 1 Superliner sleeping car
• 1Superliner diner
• 1 Superliner Sightseer Lounge car
• 1 Superliner coach-baggage car
• 1 Superliner coach

Three times per week, one coach and one sleeping car operate between Los Angeles and Chicago on the combinedSunset Limited andTexas Eagle as trains 421/422. Additionally, an extra Superliner coach operates as trains 321/322 to supplement capacity between Chicago and St. Louis.^[31] The Sightseer Lounge was removed from the train in October 2020 in response to reduced demand during the COVID-19 pandemic but was restored in March 2025.^[32][30]

Amtrak plans to replace the P42DCs with modern Siemens ALC-42 locomotives by 2027, and the Superliner cars with new long-distance cars by 2032.^[33]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toTexas Eagle.

• Official website
• Texas Eagle – Amtrak

• Amtrak routes
• Railway services introduced in 1988
• Passenger rail transportation in Illinois
• Passenger rail transportation in Missouri
• Passenger rail transportation in Arkansas
• Passenger rail transportation in Texas
• Passenger rail transportation in New Mexico
• Passenger rail transportation in Arizona
• Passenger rail transportation in California
• Night trains of the United States
• Railway services discontinued in 1988
• Long-distance Amtrak routes
• Higher-speed rail

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from October 2023
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from August 2025
• All articles containing potentially dated statements
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from March 2025
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension