The two trains began exchanging through Washington–Chicago and Newport News–Chicago coaches at Cincinnati on July 12, and a through sleeping car began September 8. It slowly began integrating the trains that summer.

: 51, 93Īmtrak kept service mostly identical through the spring and summer of 1971. Both routes survived until the formation of Amtrak in 1971. Until the late 1950s, the Riley carried the Washington 's sleeper cars between Cincinnati and Chicago. The George Washington, the C&O's flagship train, was a long-distance sleeper that ran between Cincinnati and–via a split in Charlottesville, Virginia–Washington, D.C. The James Whitcomb Riley was a daytime all-coach train which operated between Chicago and Cincinnati (via Indianapolis). The Cardinal is the successor of several previous trains, primarily the New York Central (later Penn Central) James Whitcomb Riley and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) George Washington.

Main articles: James Whitcomb Riley (train) and George Washington (train) In FY2020, the Cardinal earned $7.1 million on expenses of $22.6M-a revenue-to-cost ratio of 31%, the second lowest among all Amtrak routes. In the two fiscal years prior to the pandemic (FY2018 and FY2019), ridership had increased 12.5%. The Cardinal's ridership was about 69,000 in FY2021, which is 37% off its pre- Covid pandemic ridership of about 109,000 in FY2019. Prior to being discontinued in 2019, the Hoosier State provided service on the portion of the Cardinal's route between Indianapolis and Chicago on the other four days of the week. The Cardinal has three round trips each week, departing New York City on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and departing Chicago on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Its 1,146-mile (1,844 km) trip between New York and Chicago takes 28 1⁄ 4 hours. Along with the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited, it is one of three trains linking the Northeast and Chicago. The Cardinal is a long distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York Penn Station and Chicago Union Station via Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Charlottesville, Charleston, Huntington, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis.

Express cardinal