A-Day vs Today

BBnet3000 asked about seeing "Then and Now" figures for the rest of Amtrak and since I had planned on going through and doing so anyhow, here they are. As before, these are taken from Amtrak's original timetable and Amtrak.com. There are no adjustments or allowances made for additional stops, different station locations (though I've tried to make note of that where it occurs), or route changes. Lastly, this does not reflect additional or lesser frequencies or improvements to slower services on the same route (such as the Northeast Regionals).


Boston-New York:
1971: 3 hours, 48 minutes #3001 Turboservice
2012: 3 hours, 25 minutes #2163 Acela Express
Variance: -23 minutes/10.1%

New York-Springfield:
1971: 3 hours, 5 minutes #184-078
2012: 3 hours, 10 minutes #495 Northeast Regional/Shuttle
Variance: +5 minutes/2.7%

New York-Washington, D.C.:
1971: 2 hours, 59 minutes Metroliners (most scheduled)
2012: 2 hours, 42 minutes #2150 Acela Express
Variance: -17 minutes/9.5%

Philadelphia-Harrisburg:
1971: 1 hour, 39 minutes #605, #614
2012: 1 hour, 37 minutes #607 Keystone
Variance: -2 minutes/2%

New York-Albany:
1971: 2 hours, 40 minutes all trains (Grand Central Station)
2012: 2 hours, 20 minutes #234, #237 Empire Service
Variance: -20 minutes/12.5%

New York-Buffalo:
1971: 7 hours, 30 minutes all trains (Buffalo Central)
2012: 7 hours, 55 minutes #63 Maple Leaf (Buffalo-Depew)
Variance: +25 minutes/5.6%

New York-Pittsburgh:
1971: 8 hours, 34 minutes #48
2012: 9 hours, 13 minutes #43 Pennsylvanian
Variance: +39 minutes/7.6%

New York-Chicago:
1971: 17 hours, 5 minutes #49
2012: 19 hours #49 Lake Shore Limited
Variance: +115 minutes/11.2%

Pittsburgh-Chicago:
1971: 8 hours, 18 minutes #49
2012: 9 hours, 25 minutes #30 Capitol Limited
Variance: +67 minutes/13.5%

New York-New Orleans:
1971: 28 hours, 8 minutes #2-126
2012: 29 hours, 48 minutes #20 Crescent
Variance: +100 minutes/5.9%

New York-Orlando
1971: 21 hours, 10 minutes #145-91
2012: 21 hours, 31 minutes #98 Silver Meteor
Variance: +21 minutes/1.7%

New York-Tampa
1971: 24 hours, 20 minutes #135-21
2012: 25 hours, 32 minutes #91 Silver Star
Variance: +72 minutes/4.9%

New York-Miami
1971: 25 hours, 15 minutes #58-142
2012: 26 hours, 46 minutes #98 Silver Meteor
Variance: +91 minutes/6%

Boston-Washington, D.C.:
1971: 7 hours, 4 minutes #108-3002, 3001-107 Turboservice/Metroliner
2012: 6 hours, 30 minutes Acela Express (several)
Variance: -34 minutes/8%

Washington-Chicago:
1971: 17 hours #549-49
2012: 17 hours, 30 minutes #30 Capitol Limited
Variance: +30 minutes/2.9%

Chicago-Cincinnati:
1971: 6 hours, 10 minutes #304
2012: 8 hours, 32 minutes #50 Cardinal
Variance: +142 minutes/38.4%

Chicago-Carbondale:
1971: 5 hours, 15 minutes #9, #10
2012: 5 hours, 21 minutes #59 City of New Orleans
Variance: +6 minutes/1.9%

Chicago-Detroit:
1971: 5 hours, 50 minutes #356
2012: 5 hours, 30 minutes #352, #354 Wolverine
Variance: -20 minutes/5.7%

Chicago-St. Louis:
1971: 5 hours, 15 minutes #2
2012: 5 hours, 20 minutes #301 Lincoln Service
Variance: +5 minutes/1.6%

Chicago-Milwaukee:
1971: 1 hour, 30 minutes all trains except #31/32 with baggage (10 extra minutes)
2012: 1 hour, 29 minutes all trains
Variance: -1 minute/1.1%

Chicago-New Orleans:
1971: 17 hours, 30 minutes #1
2012: 19 hours, 15 minutes #58 City of New Orleans
Variance: +105 minutes/10%

Chicago-Los Angeles:
1971: 40 hours #18
2012: 43 hours #4 Southwest Chief
Variance: +180 minutes/7.5%

Chicago-Oakland
1971: 49 hours, 35 minutes #18-2
2012: 51 hours, 40 minutes #6 California Zephyr (Emeryville)
Variance: +125 minutes/4.2%

Chicago-Seattle
1971: 46 hours, 50 minutes #32
2012: 45 hours, 15 minutes #8 Empire Builder
Variance: -95 minutes/3.4%

Chicago-Minneapolis
1971: 7 hours, 55 minutes #31/32
2012: 8 hours, 5 minutes #8 Empire Builder
Variance: +10 minutes/2.1%

Los Angeles-New Orleans
1971: 44 hours #2
2012: 45 hours, 40 minutes #2 Sunset Limited
Variance: +100 minutes/3.8%

Los Angeles-Seattle
1971: 31 hours #11/12
2012: 29 hours, 25 minutes #14 Coast Starlight
Variance: -35 minutes/1.9%

Portland-Seattle
1971: 3 hours, 30 minutes #195/196/198/199 (Tacoma and Vancouver only intermediate stops)
2012: 3 hours, 30 minutes all Cascades
Variance: 0 minutes/0%