CITY OF NEW ORLEANS

:''For the city itself, see New Orleans, Louisiana.''
:''For the song, see City of New Orleans (song).''
The '''City of New Orleans''' is a 926-mile (1490-km) nightly passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. Before Amtrak's formation in 1971, the train was operated by the Illinois Central Railroad along the same route (though changes have been made since then). The train currently operates on a 19½ hour schedule. Within Illinois the ''City of New Orleans'' shares a route also served by a daily morning train, the ''Saluki'', and a daily afternoon train, the ''Illini''. The ''Illini'' and ''Saluki'' terminate at Carbondale, Illinois.

Contents

History

Route details

Folk song

See also

References

External links

History

The ''City of New Orleans'' began life as the daytime companion train to the all-Pullman car ''Panama Limited'' that also traveled the IC's mailine from New Orleans, Louisiana to Chicago, Illinois. The daytime train was significantly cheaper. This train was a major part of the large migration of African Americans from the U.S. South during the early 20th century, as it was one of the cheaper transportation options available.
When Amtrak assumed operation of passenger service in 1971 its Chicago-New Orleans train was operated as the ''Panama Limited'', which had been Illinois Central's premier train, but changed in 1974 to the ''City of New Orleans'', largely due to the popularity of the Arlo Guthrie 1972 hit recording of the song.
Amtrak operated the ''City of New Orleans'' reliably through the 1980s and into the 1990s; in 1992, the ''City of New Orleans'' had the highest on-time performance rate of all Amtrak services at 87%.^[1]
On September 10, 1995 the train was rerouted between Memphis and Jackson due to the Illinois Central Railroad's desire to abandon the original route (the Grenada District) in favor of the newer and flatter Yazoo District. The old route had been the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad from Memphis to Grenada and the Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad from Grenada to Jackson. Station stops were at Batesville, Mississippi, Grenada, Mississippi, Winona, Mississippi, Durant, Mississippi and Canton, Mississippi.
On March 15, 1999 the ''City of New Orleans'' collided with a flat-bed semi-trailer near Bourbonnais. Of the 217 people aboard the train, eleven people were killed in the Bourbonnais train accident. The fourth car, where the fatalities occurred, was engulfed in flames following the collision at the crossing.^[2]
On April 6, 2004 the ''City of New Orleans'' derailed near Flora, Mississippi, approximately north of Jackson, while en route to Chicago. The train was traveling at 78 miles per hour when it derailed, and resulted in one fatality, Clara Downs, of Chicago, 3 serious injuries, and 43 minor injuries. A subsequent National Transportation Safety Board investigation determined that deterioration of the track due to poor maintenance caused the accident.^[3]
Because of damage to the states of Mississippi and Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina, Amtrak was forced in late August 2005 to cancel service south of Memphis, Tennessee. Service was first restored as far south as Hammond, Louisiana, and on October 8, 2005, Amtrak resumed service to New Orleans.^[4] In December 2005 Arlo Guthrie, who helped popularize the song "City of New Orleans", led a fundraiser aboard the ''City of New Orleans'' and at several stops along the train's route to help in the hurricane recovery efforts.^[5][6]

Route details

Upon Amtrak's creation in 1971, the ''City of New Orleans'' was one of four trains that called at Chicago's Central Station, which was originally Illinois Central's terminal in Chicago. All Amtrak trains were consolidated to Union Station by March 1972.^[7]
The tracks used were once part of the Illinois Central Railroad system, and are now owned by the CN. The following lines are used:

★ St. Charles Air Line Railroad (IC), Chicago Union Station to the shore of Lake Michigan, now CN

★ Illinois Central Railroad Chicago Branch and main line, Chicago to Cairo, Illinois, now CN

★ Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad (IC), Cairo to Fulton, Kentucky, now CN

★ Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad (IC), Fulton to Memphis, Tennessee, now CN

★ Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad (IC), Memphis to Lake Cormorant, Mississippi, now CN

★ Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad (IC) branch, Lake Cormorant to Lambert, Mississippi, now CN

★ Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad (IC) branch, Lambert to Swan Lake, Mississippi, now CN

★ Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad (IC) branch, Swan Lake to Black Bayou, Mississippi, now CN

★ Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad (IC) branch, Black Bayou to Greenwood, Mississippi, now CN

★ Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad (IC) Yazoo Branch, Greenwood to Jackson, Mississippi, now CN

★ Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans Railroad (IC), Jackson to New Orleans, Louisiana, now CN
In fiscal year 2004, the ''City of New Orleans'' achieved an on-time performance rating of 67.6%.^[8] The train's average on-time performance rating for fiscal year 2006 was 86.8%, reaching as high as 93.5% for the month of May 2006.^[9]
While suggestions have been made to extend the ''City of New Orleans'' service east from New Orleans to Orlando, Florida, Amtrak has not yet made any formal proposals to do so.^[10]
{|

Folk song

Main articles: City of New Orleans (song)

"City of New Orleans" is a folk music song written and first performed by Steve Goodman and subsequently recorded by Arlo Guthrie and many other artists, notably Johnny Cash, John Denver (with slightly different lyrics) and Willie Nelson. The song lyrics trace the trail of the train route (above) in celebrating the "''...disappearin' railroad blues...''." Interestingly enough, Tom Rush wrote a folk song about the Panama Limited, the overnight trail along the same route as the City of New Orleans.

See also

★ Passenger train service on the Illinois Central Railroad

References

★ Mike Schafer, Amtrak's atlas, ''Trains'' June 1991

★ Bob Johnston, Exiled to the Delta, ''Trains'' January 1996
1. NARP: December 1992 Hotlines
2. Railroad accident report: Collision of National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) train 59 with a loaded truck-semitrailer combination at a highway/rail grade crossing in Bourbonnais, Illinois, March 15, 1999 National Transportation Safety Board
3. Derailment of Amtrak Train No. 58, ''City of New Orleans'', near Flora, Mississippi, April 6, 2004 National Transportation Safety Board
4. City of New Orleans rolls into Big Easy
5. Arlo Guthrie's City of New Orleans Benefit Marcus, Richard
6. Storied Train Used As Vehicle For Giving
7. Amtrak's beginnings, Kelly, John, , , Classic Trains,
8. Amtrak On-Time Performance and Losses for FY 2004
9. Monthly Performance Report for May 2007 Amtrak
10. This Week At Amtrak 2007-03-08 Theroux, Paul

External links

★ Amtrak - ''City of New Orleans''

★ Photos of the modern ''City of New Orleans'' in Memphis

★ Champaign-Urbana MTD - History of Illinois Central Railroad

★ The ''City Of New Orleans'' and other named trains in the Memphis Area

★ Amtrak's City of New Orleans (and its predecessor, The ''Panama Limited''.) in Memphis

★ Photos from the 2004 derailment scene