Amtrak , Chicago to Cincinnati - Trains Magazine

Amtrak has had over 150 route changes since it began on May 1st, 1971. One of the most unstable routes has been across Indiana between Chicago and Cincinnati. This is currently the western end of the Cardinal.
When Amtrak began there were two routes from Chicago to Cincinnati. The James Whitcomb Riley was a Penn Central train running on a former New York Central route using Illinois Central from Chicago to Kankakee and then PC through Lafayette, Indianapolis and Greensburg. The other route was over the former Pennsylvania through Logansport which split to go through Kokomo or Indianapolis.
Amtrak used the Penn Central James Whitcomb Riley and C&O George Washington names until 1977 when the train became the Cardinal.
Amtrak naturally chose the 307 mile Penn Central line used by the Riley. Unfortunately the Penn Central was falling apart and this was a north-south route in an east-west system. The first route change was on January 23, 1972 onto the PRR route through Logansport. Using former PRR track north of Indianapolis and NYC south to Cincinnati shortened the route from 307 miles to 303. Some trains ran over another former PRR route between Logansport and Anderson and then over former NYC from Anderson to Indianapolis making the route 313 miles. The route south of Indianapolis changed on October 16, 1973 from the Greensburg NYC line to the former PRR through Richmond,making the route 335 or 345 miles. Another detour route was available here over the former NYC between Indianapolis and Richmond through Anderson, adding another 18 miles. On August 1, 1974 Amtrak had to move over to Chesapeake and Ohio trackage when the FRA ordered Penn Central's line closed. The C&O ran through Muncie on a 287 mile line which missed Indianapolis. The next change came on June 12, 1977 when Baltimore and Ohio trackage between Chicago and Wellsboro and former Pere Marquette to La Crosse replaced a piece of C&O which was being abandonded. C&O then abandonded their line over Chevoit Hill north of Cincinnati forcing a shift to B&O's line via Hamilton. This lasted until the Cardinal was suspended on September 30, 1981.
Service resumed on January 8, 1982 and on April 27, 1986 the Cardinal returned to Indianapolis using the B&O from Cincinnati. The Hoosier State route was used north of Indianapolis. This Chicago to Indianapolis train had been added on October 1, 1980, partly to take bad order cars from Chicago to the Beech Grove shops. The route used Conrail (PRR) from Chicago to Maynard (Indiana) and then CSX (Monon) to Crawfordsville and back to Conrail (NYC) to Indianapolis. A small change was on the west side of Indianapolis when Conrail removed a section of the former NYC (Peoria and Eastern) to Clermont moving the train over to a former PRR line. The last change occured on June 30, 1993 between Chicago and Maynard. The new route uses Metra, Norfolk Southern, Belt Railway of Chicago, Union Pacific and Canadian National. Hopefully this route will stabilize now. A lot of the lines in Indiana have been chopped or sold to short lines and alternatives are not available.
The high speed rail proposals include the current Lake Shore Limited route between Chicago and Gary and then over the former Pennsylvania Panhandle line now operated by the Chicago, Ft. Wayne and Eastern. At the town of Wanatah the route turns south and runs over an abandoned CSX line, joining the current Cardinal route at Monon, Indiana and keeping on this route to Indianapolis. The route south of Indianapolis would be a return to the former NYC through Beech Grove and Greensburg.CSX has the northern 27 miles and the rest is now the Central of Indiana Division of Railamerica's Indiana and Ohio. This line follows Tanner creek to the Ohio River.

Dale