Amtrak's Friday Hoosier State passing through Shelby, Indiana on June 24, 2011 by Buddahbless (Flickr) via Wikimedia Commons

Amtrak is crowing about the great news: The Hoosier State has been so successful that Amtrak has cut 11 minutes out of the southbound run from Chicago to Indianapolis and 5 minutes off the northbound time. Wow!

But before we set off all those balloons, first let’s take a look at the newest schedule: an even 5 hours, northbound; 4 hours, 54 minutes southbound. Then let’s look at the 1941 schedules of the Pennsylvania’s South Wind and the New York Central’s James Whitcomb Riley, both of which did the trip in 3 and one-half hours. It’s great that Amtrak is actually gaining traffic on this route. But it has a long way to go before it meets 1941 standards. More information

— Ed Perkins, editor

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