Amtrak Launching Floridian as Temporary Train Between Chicago and Miami

September 23, 2024 Railfanning.org News Wire
A northbound Amtrak train pulls into the Winter Park, Florida, station on February 11, 2012. (Photo by Todd DeFeo/The DeFeo Groupe)

Amtrak is offering a new temporary route offering a direct round-trip between Chicago and Miami.

The Floridian combines the routes of the Capitol Limited and Silver Star for a limited time and makes its inaugural trip on Sunday, Nov. 10. It will offer intermediate stops in Cleveland, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington; Jacksonville, Florida; Orlando, Florida; and Tampa, Florida.

Amtrak said it is temporarily combining the Capitol Limited and Silver Star trains to create the Floridian due to the upcoming East River Tunnel Rehabilitation Project in New York. During the project, one tunnel tube will be closed at a time, officials said.

Amtrak previously had a Floridian train that operated from 1971 until 1979 and was known for its poor on-time performance.

The earlier iteration ran between Chicago and Florida, with branches south of Jacksonville terminating in St. Petersburg and Miami. Its intermediate stops included Louisville, Kentucky; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; and Winter Park, Florida.

Railfanning Review Podcast

Before you copy and paste this information to your website, please keep in mind this research took a lot of effort. Appreciate it. Learn from it. But do not plagiarize it. Yes, if you think we might be talking to you, we are.

Related Articles

No Picture
Canadian National

CN, Chicago Heights, Ill., Reach Mitigation Agreement for EJ&E transaction

December 9, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. — CN announced an agreement with the City of Chicago Heights, Ill., located 26 miles south of downtown Chicago and six miles from the Indiana border, that addresses municipal concerns about CN’s proposed acquisition of the principal lines of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E). Under the agreement, CN will assist in the creation and maintenance of quiet zones and take various steps to improve operations, safety, fencing and emergency preparedness and promote economic development in Chicago Heights. The agreement is contingent upon regulatory approval of CN’s proposed acquisition of the EJ&E. The transaction is

No Picture
BNSF

BNSF Reopens Chicagoland Rail-Served Terminal

August 20, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

FORT WORTH — BNSF Railway Company today announced the reopening of a rail-served building materials transload facility under the management of Partners Warehouse, LLC, at Eola, Ill. Operating as Partners Dimensional Services, the facility has received a complete track and maintenance overhaul to better handle dimensional (oversized) materials such as lumber, steel, and other building products. Security has been upgraded and lighting added for continuous operations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. “This is the only yard of its type close to the growing housing market in the western Chicago suburbs and with immediate access to major North/South