List of railroads eligible to participate in the formation of Amtrak

On May 1, 1971 there were 26 railroads in the United States that were eligible to participate in the formation of Amtrak.

Participating railroads

Twenty railroads opted to participate. Each contributed rolling stock, equipment, and financial capital to the new government-sponsored entity. In return, the railroads received the right to discontinue intercity passenger rail services; and some received tax breaks while some [http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2000/10/25/loc_lindner_awaits.html] received common stock in Amtrak. Because Amtrak discontinued many passenger rail routes when it commenced operations, some of the participating railroads never actually hosted successor passenger rail service. The 20 participating railroads are as follows:

* Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
* Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (hosted no Amtrak service until "West Virginian" in 1971)
* Burlington Northern Railroad
* Central of Georgia Railway (never hosted Amtrak)
* Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
* Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
* Chicago and North Western Railway (never hosted Amtrak)
* Delaware and Hudson Railway (hosted no Amtrak service until "Adirondack" in 1974)
* Grand Trunk Western Railroad (hosted no Amtrak service until "Blue Water Limited" in 1974)
* Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad
* Illinois Central Railroad
* Louisville and Nashville Railroad
* Missouri Pacific Railroad
* Norfolk and Western Railway (hosted no Amtrak service until "Mountaineer" in 1975)
* Northwestern Pacific Railroad (never hosted Amtrak service)
* Penn Central Transportation (whose "Northeast Corridor" also was acquired in 1976)
* Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
* Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
* Southern Pacific Railroad
* Union Pacific Railroad.

Non-participating railroads

There were six railroads that were "eligible" to participate in the formation of Amtrak that declined to spin off their passenger rail services. The intercity passenger operations of those six railroads eventually were absorbed by Amtrak or another governmental entity, or were discontinued altogether. The six non-participating railroads and disposition of their routes were as follows:

* The bankrupt Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Line ran its last intercity passenger trains ("Peoria Rocket" and "Quad Cities Rocket") on December 31 1978
* Chicago South Shore & South Bend trains were taken over by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District
* The Rio Grande operated its last "Rio Grande Zephyr" in 1983, and Amtrak's "San Francisco Zephyr" was renamed the "California Zephyr".
* The last Georgia Railroad mixed train ran on May 6 1983, served by the Seaboard System Railroad.
* Reading Company's Pennsylvania to Newark Penn Station service continued into Conrail and was discontinued in 1983
* Southern Railway joined on February 1 1979, when its "Southern Crescent" became Amtrak's "Crescent"

Ineligible railroads

A few major railroads with operations in the United States were not eligible to participate in the formation of Amtrak. The Alaska Railroad provided long-distance service, but was already owned by the United States government. In addition, Canadian Pacific's "Atlantic" was taken over by VIA Rail in 1978; it crossed northern Maine until 1994, and for a time another Canadian local service crossed part of northern Minnesota. The Erie Lackawanna's Hoboken-Port Jervis trains were considered commuter trains as were the Long Island Railroad's parlor car trains. Penn Central's Chatham, New York-Grand Central trains were not added to Amtrak and were discontinued in 1972.