On December 17, 1999, the "Kentucky Cardinal" started running as a rebranding and extension of the "Hoosier State", which ran four days a week between Chicago and Indianapolis (filling in the gaps in the "Cardinal" schedule). The "Kentucky Cardinal" ran as trains 850 southbound and 851 northbound, the same numbers as the "Hoosier State." The train ran along former Pennsylvania Railroad/Penn Central trackage that had been used by the "Floridian." It was an attempt to attract express business from United Parcel Service, which maintains its air-express hub at Louisville International Airport. At first the train only ran from Indianapolis south to Jeffersonville, Indiana, a Louisville suburb, where a new Amtrak Mail and Express facility was built. The city of Louisville spent $370,000 in 2001 to renovate Louisville Union Station for the service, and on December 4 the "Kentucky Cardinal" started to use a new track on the west side of the Union Station parking lot, marking Amtrak's return to Louisville after a 20-year absence.