Serving Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, and intermediate points
Amtrak train numbers: 358 and 359
Predecessor railroad train numbers: Illinois Central 201-1 and 202-2 (City of New Orleans through cars), 205-5 and 16-6 (Panama Limited through cars)
The Illinois Central's flagship Chicago-New Orleans trains, the City of New Orleans and the Panama Limited, both featured sections that ran between St. Louis and New Orleans, with the trains being combined or separated at Carbondale, Illinois.
With the World's Fair in New Orleans in 1984, Amtrak reinstated the service, with the through cars running past St. Louis, all the way to Kansas City. In timetables, it appeared as a completely separate train, called the River Cities, although the times listed from Carbondale down to New Orleans in the schedule were exactly the same as the City of New Orleans.
The service outlasted the World's Fair, ending in about 1993.
Condensed historical timetables:
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(1956) (1984) (1992) (1992) (1984) (1956)
----- 3:30P 3:45P Dp Kansas City Ar 1:25P 1:45P -----
6:45P 8:45P 9:15P St. Louis 8:00A 8:20A 7:38A
9:41P 12:29A 12:47A Carbondale 3:40A 4:52A 3:40A
2:17A 5:08A 5:46A Memphis 10:46P 12:06A 11:00P
6:10A 9:08A 9:50A Jackson, MS 6:21P 8:04P 7:25P
9:30A 12:45P 1:50P Ar New Orleans Dp 2:40P 4:45P 4:15P
The Amtrak Train Names Project