The Illini is a 310-mile (499 km) passenger train operated by Amtrak that runs between Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois. The train is a part of the Illinois Service rail network and is partially funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation. The train service uses the same track as another Amtrak route, the City of New Orleans. This article is about trains in rail transport. ... Amtrak is the trademark name of the intercity passenger train system created on May 1, 1971 in the United States. ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... Carbondale is a city in extreme south central Illinois in the midwestern United States, about an hour north of Cairo. ... The Illinois Service consists of four train routes operated by Amtrak to provide frequent daily passenger rail service between Chicago and other cities in the state of Illinois (plus additional cities in neighboring Missouri). ... Amtraks City of New Orleans at the Memphis, Tennessee, station. ...

The Illini is a descendent of the Seminole Limited, a train operated by the Illinois Central Railroad from 1909 that ran from Chicago to Jacksonville, Florida via Carbondale. In 1969 declining numbers of passengers forced the ICRR to cancel the service to Jacksonville, leaving only the Chicago-to-Carbondale segment of the route. It was renamed the Shawnee, after the Shawnee tribe. The Illinois Central (AAR reporting mark IC) was a railroad carrier in the central United States, with its primary routes from Chicago to New Orleans and Sioux Falls. ... 1909 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Jacksonville skyline and the Acosta Bridge. ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... Shawnee The Shawnee are a people native to North America. ...

In 1971 Amtrak took over all ICRR passenger service and kept only two passenger trains on the Chicago-Carbondale route, one of which was the Shawnee. Amtrak eventually renamed it the Illini, named for the Illiniwek, the same Native American confederacy that gave Illinois its name. The Illini service was nearly cancelled in 1996, but local communities along the route pledged funds to keep it running. 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... The Illiniwek (also known as the Illini, Illinois, Illinois Confederacy, etc) were a group of several Native American tribes in the upper Mississippi River valley of North America. ... Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Amerindians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

University students make up a significant portion of the Illini's passengers. The train has stops near three major Illinois state universities: Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Eastern Illinois University in Charleston (near Mattoon), and the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. The Champaign station may be a source of the train's name: UIUC's sports teams are called the Fighting Illini. A professor giving a lecture at the Helsinki University of Technology A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. ... Southern Illinois University-Carbondale is located in Carbondale, Illinois. ... Eastern Illinois University, founded 1895, is a university located in Charleston, Illinois. ... Charleston is the county seat of Coles County, Illinois6. ... Mattoon is a city located in Coles County, Illinois. ... University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign   The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, also known as UIUC and the U of I (the officially preferred abbreviation), is a large public university, the largest campus in the University of Illinois system. ... The Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area, also known as Chambana, is a region in east central Illinois. ... Learning & Labor The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, also known as UIUC and the U of I (the officially preferred abbreviation), is the largest campus in the University of Illinois system. ...

Station stops

The Illini, trains 391 southbound and 392 northbound, makes the following station stops:

Illinois

• Chicago Union Station
• Homewood station
• Kankakee station
• Gilman station
• Rantoul station
• Champaign-Urbana station
• Mattoon station
• Effingham station
• Centralia station
• Du Quoin station
• Carbondale station

External links

• Amtrak - Illinois Service (the schedule is linked on the City of New Orleans page)