Passenger Train Service
The Illinois Central was a major carrier of passengers on its Chicago to New Orleans mainline and between Chicago and St. Louis. IC also ran passengers on its Chicago to Omaha line, though it was never among the top performers on this route. Illinois Central's largest passenger terminal, Central Station, stood at 12th Street east of Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Due to the railroad's north-south route from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, Illinois Central passenger trains were one means of transport during the African American Great Migration of the 1920s.
Illinois Central's most famous train was the Panama Limited, a premier all-Pullman car service between Chicago, St. Louis, Missouri, and New Orleans. In 1967, due to losses incurred by the operation of the train, the Illinois Central combined the Panama Limited with a coach-only train called the Magnolia Star. On June 1, 1971 Amtrak took over the operation of the service, but shortly afterward dropped the name in favor of the City of New Orleans, a daytime streamlined coach train that had been operated by the Illinois Central whose name was popularized by a song written by Steve Goodman and performed by Arlo Guthrie: Willie Nelson's recording of the song was #1 in 1984. Illinois Central ran several other trains along the main route including The Creole and The Louisiane.
The Green Diamond was the Illinois Central's premier train between Chicago, Springfield and St. Louis. Other important trains included the Hawkeye which ran daily between Chicago and Sioux City and the City of Miami eventually running every other day between Chicago and Miami via the Atlantic Coast Line, the Central of Georgia Railroad and Florida East Coast Railway.
The Illinois Central was always a major Chicago commuter line operating electrified trains from its Michigan Avenue stations to the southeast suburbs until this traffic was assumed by Metra.
After 1971 Amtrak operated the Panama Limited, later renamed City of New Orleans, over the Illinois Central mainline and the Shawnee between Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois. Amtrak presently runs three trains daily over this route, the City of New Orleans and the Illini and Saluki between Chicago and Carbondale. Another Illinois corridor service is planned for the former "Blackhawk" route between Chicago, Rockford and Dubuque. Amtrak, at the state of Illinois' request, did a recent feasibility study to reinstate the Black Hawk route to Rockford and Dubuque. Initial capital costs range from $32 million to $55 million, depending on the route. Once in operation, the service would require roughly $5 million a year in subsidies from the state. On December 10, 2010, IDOT announced the route choice for the resumption of service to begin in 2014 going over mostly CN railway.
Read more about this topic: Illinois Central Railroad
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—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
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—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)