Texas Eagle

The Texas Eagle runs every day in each direction between Chicago and San Antonio — 1,316 miles across Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas in about 32 hours, with one night on board. On the way it calls at Springfield, St. Louis, Little Rock, Texarkana, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin.

Three days a week it goes further. A sleeping car and a coach from Chicago are left at San Antonio and coupled to the Sunset Limited for the run west, reaching Los Angeles 65 hours after leaving Chicago. At 2,728 miles that is the longest route in Amtrak's network.

The name goes back to 1948, when the Missouri Pacific and the Texas and Pacific put on a streamliner called the Texas Eagle. Amtrak revived it in 1981. Amtrak's own summary of the route is the Land of Lincoln, the Mississippi, the Ozarks, Little Rock, the piney woods of east Texas and the cities of the Texas plains; the Ozarks pass in the night both ways, and the Texas end is the daylight half of the ride.

Train 21 leaves Chicago Union Station at 14:10 and runs south-west across the Illinois prairie through Joliet, Pontiac and Bloomington-Normal, the towns Route 66 once linked. Springfield, Lincoln's city, comes at about half past five, then Carlinville and Alton, and the train reaches St. Louis at 20:10, across the Mississippi.

Through the night

South of St. Louis the line follows the Missouri bank of the Mississippi before turning inland. The Ozarks, Poplar Bluff and Walnut Ridge pass in the dark, and Little Rock comes at 03:32. By Texarkana, where the station stands on the Arkansas–Texas line, it is early morning; Marshall, Longview and Mineola follow through the forests of east Texas.

Texas by day

The train reaches Dallas at 12:38 and Fort Worth at 14:28, then turns south over the prairie by Cleburne, McGregor and Temple, where it leaves BNSF track for Union Pacific. Taylor and Austin come in the evening, and the train reaches San Antonio at 22:46, 32 hours 36 minutes after Chicago. Three nights a week the Los Angeles cars go on with the Sunset Limited at 02:45.

Northbound the day turns round. Train 22 leaves San Antonio at 06:48, so central Texas, Fort Worth and Dallas come by day; Arkansas is crossed in the evening and night, St. Louis is at breakfast, and Illinois is a late-morning run to Chicago at 13:49.

The train itself

The Texas Eagle is made up of Amtrak's double-deck Superliner cars: coaches, sleepers and a Sightseer Lounge with windows that curve into the roof, taken off the train in October 2020 and restored in March 2025. Between Chicago and San Antonio meals are Amtrak's Flexible Dining, included for passengers in private rooms; the cooked-on-board Traditional Dining is offered only west of San Antonio. Power is usually one or two GE P42DC diesels, which Amtrak is replacing with Siemens ALC-42 Chargers.

The Texas Eagle runs every day in each direction, all year. Southbound, train 21 leaves Chicago at 14:10 and reaches San Antonio at 22:46 the next day, 32 hours 36 minutes on. Northbound, train 22 leaves San Antonio at 06:48 and reaches Chicago at 13:49 the next day, 31 hours 1 minute on.

All times below are local (Central time throughout), and the day is counted from departure.

Good to know:

• On to Los Angeles, three days a week. The through cars, numbered 421, leave Chicago with train 21 on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays, leave San Antonio with the Sunset Limited at 02:45 and reach Los Angeles at 05:35 on the fourth day, 65 hours 25 minutes after Chicago. Eastbound, cars 422 leave Los Angeles at 22:00 on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays and reach Chicago at 13:49, 61 hours 49 minutes on. The Sunset Limited's own page has the times west of San Antonio.
• Houston, Galveston and Shreveport are a bus. Amtrak Connection buses meet the train for Houston and Shreveport, both from Longview, and for Galveston, and Amtrak books them with the train.
• The times move. Amtrak's timetable is generated for a single date rather than a season; the times above are from the one for 13 November 2026. Check your own date, and leave slack for onward connections — the train runs on freight railways.

Times as of November 2026, from Amtrak's published timetable for 13 November 2026. Confirm before travelling on amtrak.com (opens in a new tab).

Fares on the Texas Eagle move with demand rather than sitting on a published table. A search of Amtrak's booking engine in November 2026 for one adult, Chicago to San Antonio on Wednesday 6 January 2027, gave Coach from $131 and private rooms from $528, the room price covering up to two adults. Business class is not offered on this train. Book early, and book direct.

Coach is a reclining seat with the Sightseer Lounge and the café. A room adds a bed, an attendant and meals; the Bedroom adds its own washroom and shower. Fares checked November 2026 at amtrak.com (opens in a new tab); US dollars, one way.

Amtrak's own USA Rail Pass covers the Texas Eagle. It costs $499 for 10 segments over 30 days, in Coach only — upgrades to a Roomette or Bedroom are not available on it. A segment is one boarding and one alighting, so riding Chicago to San Antonio straight through uses one of the ten. The pass is valid for 120 days from purchase, and each segment has to be booked through Amtrak before you board.

For the Texas Eagle alone it is not worth buying. Coach from Chicago to San Antonio sampled at $131, a quarter of the pass price. It pays when the Eagle is one leg of a bigger loop — stopping off in St. Louis and Austin, say, then west on the Sunset Limited and north on the Coast Starlight — and only if you are happy to sit up for the nights on board.

Checked November 2026 against amtrak.com/usa-rail-pass (opens in a new tab).

The Texas Eagle runs every day, so a stopover costs only a day: get off, stay the night, and take the same train on the next afternoon or morning. The places below are listed from north to south; Chicago has its own cards on the California Zephyr's page.

Three places to stay, all in buildings older than the train's name: a hotel inside St. Louis's 1894 Union Station, the Driskill in Austin, and the Menger beside the Alamo at the San Antonio end.

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