Amtrak
Amtrak® (officially "National Railroad Passenger Corporation") operates a nationwide rail network of intercity passenger trains in the contiguous United States, serving over 500 destinations in 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian provinces on over 21,400 route miles: most of the USA's passenger=regional (medium-distance: intrastate or interstate) trains and all passenger=national (long distance, interstate), overnight, highspeed=* and passenger=international trains. Many states (California, Virginia, Maryland, Missouri, Illinois, Utah, New Mexico, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida...) and regional transportation authorities (e.g. Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District) sponsor their own state/regional commuter and intrastate route=trains, some affiliate with Amtrak (California), some do not (Maryland). Try an OpenPublicTransportMap rendering, which displays route=train relations as train-numbered lines, including the union of Amtrak routes with state- and regional-sponsored routes: most are on Class 4 track (maximum speed 80 MPH). While Acela, on Class 5, 6, 7 or 8 track (90, 110, 125, 160 MPH, respectively) is the only high-speed route which may reach 150 MPH (241 km/h), nearly half of Amtrak trains operate at top speeds of 100 MPH (161 km/h) or greater. In the Passenger column, bold type indicates "higher-speed" service, which include Class 5 (90 MPH) or Class 6 (110 MPH) track.
In North America, "bottom level" (infrastructure) route=tracks relations are omitted, instead skipping to "middle level" (infrastructure) route=railway relations. "Higher level" passenger rail routes like the Amtrak route relations linked here are properly a collection of rail segments, stations/stops and platforms. More complete tagging on underlying infrastructure (track) segments (making up a "named Subdivision") includes accurate, contiguous railway=* elements, with identical name=* and usage=* tags. These are collected into middle level route=railway relations, not bottom level route=tracks relations as OpenRailwayMap suggests. You can improve one or more of the higher level route=train relations below without the following suggestion, but please endeavor to create/review/correct/complete underlying middle level route=railway relations (infrastructure which should contain contiguous, identically named track segments) as you do so.
For example, the Hiawatha Service route=train relation contains all track segments that make up that route, so it is correct to mark here as Complete. But examining this relation's members shows that while some tracks are correctly named "C&M Subdivision," others are missing such name=* (and usage=*) tags. Furthermore, track segments which make up the C&M Subdivision are not (yet) collected into a middle level route=railway + name=C&M Subdivision relation. Please endeavor to identify contiguous rail segments with identical name=* and usage=* tags and collect them into a middle level route=railway "named Subdivision" relation. The higher level route=train relations listed below are important to complete, but so are their underlying middle level infrastructure route=railway relations, too!
Try OpenPublicTransportMap (OPTM): it displays passenger rail in route=train relations. At closer zooms, OPTM also displays route=light_rail, route=subway, route=tram, route=monorail, route=funicular, route=bus, route=trolleybus, route=aerialway and route=ferry with colors similar to OpenRailwayMap (ORM). Please compare and contrast ORM (rail infrastructure) and OPTM (passenger routes) with OSM's Transport layer which rather simply displays "any and all rail" (railway=*), though not disused or abandoned rail, and at closer zooms, route=bus. (Another rail renderer displayed rail-based passenger routes with their colour=* or color=* tag, but is no longer functional).
Amtrak route=train routes are complete to public_transport:version=2 as of 2021-01-16. A convention of right-hand main is assumed, and actual track and platform assignments may differ from what is mapped. Map Your Train Ride! Do you ride a train regularly or work at a train station? If you're sure that a train consistently serves a platform different from what is mapped, feel free to reroute the route=train relation and add the matching public_transport=stop_positions and public_transport=platforms. Alternatively, leave a note on the map or on this page, and someone will help you out.
Even-numbered Amtrak trains generally travel north and east, odd-numbered south and west. Among the exceptions are Pacific Surfliner trains, which use the opposite numbering system inherited from Santa Fe Railway, and some Downeaster and Empire Service trains. All routes are network=Amtrak, except in cases where service is provided jointly by Amtrak and another operator, such as the Maple Leaf train (operated by Canada's VIA Rail west of Niagara Falls), and the Hartford Line (along which Amtrak and ConnDOT coordinate service).
| type=route_master | passenger=* | Origin→Destination, ref=* as Train #, type=route | Status and Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acela®
9796393 |
regional highspeed |
WAS→BOS:
|
  Complete; public_transport v2. 457 miles (735 km). Amtrak's premier high-speed service between Boston, New York City and Washington, with speeds up to 150 MPH (241 km/h) in parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Tagged both passenger=regional and highspeed=yes. |
| Adirondack®
10322765 |
international | Complete; public_transport v2. 381 miles (613 km), a "higher-speed" corridor and service, contrasted with Acela, Amtrak's highest speed service. No overnight service. | |
| Auto Train®
10322764 |
national car |
Complete; public_transport v2. 855 miles (1,376 km). Tagged both passenger=national and service=car. | |
| Berkshire Flyer
14335680 |
regional |
PIT→ALB:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. |
| Blue Water℠
10322763 |
regional | Complete; public_transport v2. 319 miles (513 km). Underlying infrastructure (route=railway) relations need fixing (there is a "track split" on Flint Subdivision east of Battle Creek). Part of "Michigan Services." | |
| California Zephyr℠
905830 |
national | EMY-CHI CHI-EMY Mostly complete; public_transport v2. 2438 miles (Chicago - Emeryville, California). Underlying infrastructure route=railway relations are mostly but not quite completely correct (e.g. Creston Subdivision "track splits"), relation is very large. Platforms, amenities around them need improvement. | |
| Capitol Corridor℠
2845553 |
regional |
SJC→SAC:
|
EB WB Complete; public_transport v2. 168 miles (275 km) (San Jose - Oakland - Sacramento - Auburn). A Phase 1 extension from San José (Diridon) south to Gilroy (+49 km) and Salinas (+60 km) is expected in the 2020s for a new length of 238 miles (384 km). Infill stations at Pajaro/Watsonville Junction (to serve Santa Cruz) and Castroville (to serve Monterey) are Phase 2, with no revenue service date specified, as Monterey Branch is disused / abandoned and Santa Cruz Branch is Class 1 (or 2?) speed, limiting freight and occasional tourism trains to 25 MPH/40 km/h as it rehabilitates. The Capitol Corridor is the third busiest Amtrak route in the USA, moving 1.4 million passengers annually between San Jose and Auburn. Platform assignments need surveying at Martinez and Sacramento: Map Your Train Ride! Part of "Amtrak California:" partially funded by Caltrans' Division of Rail, this branding is less prominent with "more local" CCJPA joint powers authority. |
| Capitol Limited℠
10563425 |
national | Complete; public_transport v2. 780 miles (1260 km). Underlying infrastructure (route=railway) relations need fixing. | |
| Cardinal®
10322762 |
national | Complete; public_transport v2. 1146 miles (1844 km). | |
| Carl Sandburg®-Illinois Zephyr®
10322761 |
regional |
QCY→CHI:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. 258 miles (415 km). Part of "Illinois Service." |
| Carolinian℠
10322760 |
national | Complete; public_transport v2. (Needs minor "track split" fixes). 704 miles (1133 km). No overnight service. | |
| Cascades ®
10322759 |
international regional |
PDX→VAC:
|
Complete; rough public_transport v2. 467 miles (752 km), though no single train covers this entire distance; there is no single route=train going all the way from Eugene to Vancouver. Only trains serving Canada are tagged as passenger=international; the rest are passenger=regional. No overnight service. Underlying infrastructure (route=railway) relations need fixing. |
| City of New Orleans®
1532755 |
national | CHI-NOL NOL-CHI Complete; public_transport v2. 934 miles (1503 km). | |
| Coast Starlight®
10322757 |
national | Complete; public_transport v2. 1377 miles (2216 km). Los Angeles - San José - Oakland - Sacramento - Portland - Seattle. | |
| Crescent®
10322758 |
national | Complete; public_transport v2. 1377 miles (2216 km). Underlying infrastructure (route=railway) relations need fixing. | |
| Downeaster℠
10322756 |
regional |
BRK→BON:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. Underlying infrastructure (route=railway) relations need fixing, for example, double-tracking on line ends suddenly at Massachusetts-New Hampshire boundary. 145 miles (233 km). |
| Empire Builder®
10322755 |
national |
SEA→CHI:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. (Chicago - Portland), (Chicago - Seattle) 2206 miles (3550 km). At Spokane, trains 7 and 27 decouple westbound and trains 8 and 28 couple eastbound. |
| Empire Service®
4452798 |
regional |
ALB→NYP:
|
NYP-ALB ALB-NYP 142 miles (229 km) New York City - AlbanyNYP-NFL NFL-NYP Complete; public_transport v2. 460 miles (740 km) New York City - Buffalo, a "higher-speed" corridor and service, contrasted with Acela, Amtrak's highest speed service. |
| Ethan Allen Express®
4445810 |
regional | SB NB Complete; public_transport v2. 241 miles (388 km). | |
| Hartford Line
10530881 |
regional |
NHV→SPG:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. About 62 miles (100 km) serving New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut to Springfield, Massachusetts. ConnDOT's CTrail-branded trains are included here, as Amtrak and ConnDOT coordinate service, run trains with identical stopping patterns and honor each other's tickets. Three-digit refs represent Amtrak trains, and four-digit refs represent CTrail trains. |
| Heartland Flyer®
4743154 |
regional | OKC-FTW FTW-OKC Complete; public_transport v2. 206 miles (332 km). | |
| Hiawatha Service®
9161615 |
regional |
MKE→CHI:
|
MKE-CHI CHI-MKE Complete; public_transport v2. 86 miles (138 km). |
| Illini®-Saluki®
1902680 |
regional | CHI-CDL CDL-CHI Complete; public_transport v2. 310 miles (499 km). Part of "Illinois Service." | |
| Keystone Service®
10322752 |
regional |
HAR→PHL:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. 195 miles (314 km), a "higher-speed" corridor and service, contrasted with Acela, Amtrak's highest speed service. |
| Lake Shore Limited®
10322753 |
national |
CHI→NYP:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. 959 miles (1543 km). At Albany-Rensselaer, trains 48 and 448 decouple eastbound and trains 49 and 449 couple westbound. Underlying infrastructure (route=railway) relations need fixing. |
| Lincoln® Service
10322748 |
regional |
STL→CHI:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. 284 miles (457 km), a "higher-speed" corridor and service, contrasted with Acela, Amtrak's highest speed service. Tracks near St. Louis estimated. Part of "Illinois Service." Trains 318 and 319 are a combination of the Lincoln Service and Missouri River Runner. |
| Maple Leaf℠
4467191 |
international |
TWO→NFS:
|
TWO-NYP NYP-TWO Complete; public_transport v2. 544 miles (875 km). No overnight service. |
| Missouri River Runner℠
10322748 |
regional | Complete; public_transport v2. 283 miles (455 km). Underlying infrastructure (route=railway) relations need fixing. Trains 318 and 319 (listed under Lincoln Service) are a combination of the Lincoln Service and Missouri River Runner. | |
| Northeast Regional℠
10322749 |
regional |
NFK→BOS:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. Amtrak's busiest routes. 457 miles (735 km), a "higher-speed" corridor and service, contrasted with Acela, Amtrak's highest speed service. Underlying infrastructure (route=railway) relations need fixing. |
| Pacific Surfliner®
10322750 |
regional |
SLO→SAN:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. 350 miles (565 km); (San Diego - Los Angeles - Santa Barbara - San Luis Obispo). While there are some 90 MPH segments (MCBC Pendleton), the underlying LOSSAN corridor is not "higher-speed" (black text regional). Pacific Surfliner is the second busiest Amtrak route in the country, moving 2.6 million passengers annually between San Diego and San Luis Obispo. Part of "Amtrak California:" partially funded by Caltrans' Division of Rail, this branding is less prominent with the "more local" LOSSAN joint powers authority. |
| Palmetto®
10322751 |
national | Complete; public_transport v2. 829 miles (1344 km). No overnight service. | |
| Pennsylvanian℠
10322745 |
regional | Complete; public_transport v2. 444 miles (715 km). Underlying infrastructure (route=railway) relations need fixing. | |
| Pere Marquette®
10322746 |
regional | Complete; public_transport v2. 176 miles (283 km). Underlying infrastructure (route=railway) relations need review. Part of "Michigan Services." | |
| Piedmont®
10322747 |
regional |
CLT→RGH:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. 173 miles (278 km). |
| San Joaquins℠
4668744 |
regional |
OKJ→BFD:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. 315 miles (507 km); (Bakersfield - Stockton - Oakland), 282 miles (454 km); (Bakersfield - Stockton - Sacramento). The San Joaquins is the fifth busiest Amtrak route in the country, moving 1.1 million passengers annually. With connecting buses at Bakersfield, the San Joaquin service is the spine of Amtrak California: linking Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Platform assignments need surveying at Bakersfield, Martinez and Sacramento: Map Your Train Ride! Part of "Amtrak California:" partially funded by Caltrans' Division of Rail, this branding is less prominent with the "more local" SJJPA joint powers authority. Planned improvements / extensions as part of the Valley Rail Project include two new daily round-trips to better connect San Joaquin Valley travelers with the Sacramento Area and extends Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) service between Sacramento and Merced. New stations would include Lodi, Elk Grove, City College, Midtown, Old North Sacramento and Natomas/Airport (in the Sacramento Extension; both San Joaquins and ACE) north of Stockton, Oakley Station west of Stockton on the way to Oakland and Modesto, Turlock/Denair, Merced, a relocation of the Madera station and Fresno south of Stockton. The first Valley Rail trains are anticipated to operate by 2024-25, with completion expected by the end of 2027. As this dovetails with the launch of High Speed Rail service between Merced and Bakersfield (revenue service anticipated circa 2030), the San Joaquins will end service between those stations, effectively "ending at Merced" (and no further south). |
| Silver Meteor®
10322741 |
national | Complete; public_transport v2. 1522 miles (2449 km). Part of "Silver Service®." | |
| Silver Star®
10322742 |
national | Complete; public_transport v2. 1377 miles (2216 km). Part of "Silver Service®." | |
| Southwest Chief®
4720714 |
national | CHI-LAX LAX-CHI Complete; public_transport v2. 2265 miles (Chicago - Los Angeles). | |
| Sunset Limited®
10322739 |
national | Complete; public_transport v2. 1995 miles (New Orleans - San Antonio - Los Angeles). At San Antonio, train 1 couples with train 421 westbound and train 2 decouples from train 422 eastbound. | |
| Texas Eagle®
10322739 |
national |
SAS→CHI:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. 2728 miles (Chicago - San Antonio - Los Angeles). At San Antonio, train 421 decouples from train 21 to couple with train 1 westbound and train 422 decouples from train 2 to couple with train 22 eastbound. Tracks around Saint Louis are estimated. |
| Valley Flyer
10322743 |
regional |
NHV→GFD:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. |
| Vermonter℠
10322744 |
regional |
WAS→SAB:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. 611 miles (983 km). |
| Winter Park Express
13938483 |
regional |
DEN→WPR:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. |
| Wolverine®
10322740 |
regional |
CHI→PNT:
|
Complete; public_transport v2. 304 miles (489 km), a "higher-speed" corridor and service, contrasted with Acela, Amtrak's highest speed service. Underlying infrastructure (route=railway) relations need fixing. Part of "Michigan Services." |
About the (branding, livery) colors in the passenger=* column
Mapzen made a rail renderer, transit-colours, that displayed passenger route=trains with their colour=* (or color=*) tag value (and at closer zooms, route=subway, route=light_rail, route=tram). Although Amtrak does not assign colors to routes, routes above display colors in a rough schema: passenger=international = a purple or green, passenger=national (interstate, long distance) = blue, highspeed=yes = red, passenger=regional = a brown or orange and service=car = yellow. Try clicking the passenger=* column's sort arrow to see:
- International routes include Cascades green (as below) and purples: Adirondack as DarkViolet (dark, as it is on a "higher-speed" corridor; see below), Maple Leaf as MediumOrchid.
- National routes are blue, most are overnight routes (all Amtrak night routes are passenger=national). Overnight routes are darker shades of blue, such as DarkBlue on California Zephyr and MidnightBlue on Coast Starlight. The longest national routes are darkest blue.
- National routes without overnight service are lighter shades of blue: SkyBlue on Carolinian and DeepSkyBlue on Palmetto. Because of this and their "medium distance" length, an argument can be made that these two routes are more regional, rather than national. No current regional routes have overnight service.
- Regional routes are assigned web safe colors in brown and orange palettes (smearing a bit into beige/yellowish/mustard/khaki). Exceptionally, one major regional route is a medium shade of blue: Pacific Surfliner as OceanBlue.
- Regional routes lighter in color (neither dark nor deeply saturated) are regular-speed routes so that regional routes on "higher-speed" corridors are colored darker (DarkOrange, SaddleBrown...). Bold white text indicates higher-speed corridors, regular black text on (lighter colored) regional routes indicates regular-speed.
- Lighter-shade browns are all "regular speed, shorter-length regional routes" (desaturation=shorter).
This scheme has minor flaws, for example, Vermonter is a darker brown (Sienna), yet it is not higher-speed, however it is lengthier, so darker-shade regional now has a double-meaning of higher-speed or lengthier. Have fun.
Assigning web safe brown or orange colors to each Amtrak regional route underscores the difficulty of this task and may explain why Amtrak does not assign colors, but OSM can make good choices here. For example: on Amtrak Cascades service in Washington state, OSM's Amtrak wiki and Mapzen both display(ed) a closely matching shade of green, which in turn (by intention) better matches livery of rolling stock found only on those tracks by that line and class of service; also, Amtrak and California/Railroads/Passenger show that passenger=regional Capitol Corridor route = poppy orange, color of California state flower. However, overloading/exceptions do happen with brown/orange on passenger=regional routes: Pacific Surfliner is a non-brown/orange regional route tagged with a medium shade of blue. A goal is better visual color consistency (given the above schema, which attempts to bend without breaking) across all passenger=* services. Color harmony, in motion.
About the colors and symbols in the Status and Notes column
Color and symbol legend: status of each route is indicated by a symbol, which describes the type of feature, and a color, which indicates the completeness of that feature in OSM. For more details, see Wiki Help. Meaning of symbols:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
 | Route status |
 | Stops status |
| Base Code | NA | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{State Route|r=...|h=}} | - implies status unknown |
 - no part of route added |
 - route partly added (as relation) |
 - route mainly added, needs completing |
- route relation complete (in view of 1 editor). Should be verified. |
 - route complete & verified by second editor. Please date. |
 - route does not exist in real world. |
| {{State Route|r=|h=...}} | - implies status unknown |
 - no stops added to relation |
 - some stops added |
 - most stops added, needs completing |
- all stops added to relation (in view of 1 editor). Should be verified. |
 - route complete & verified by second editor. Please date. |
 - no stops in real world. Unlikely to be used without r=X as well. |
The codes 0-4 are a logical progression, but they do not all have to be used in sequence. It is perfectly acceptable to go from 0 (nothing on map) to 3 (everything done in opinion of one editor). However, there should never be a jump to level 4. r=4 should only appear after r=3, and the same with h=3 & h=4, as this implies the relation has been checked by both the editor who completed it (level 3), and a second editor (level 4). Given these are different people, a jump up to level 4 from anything other than 3 is not possible.