The Floridian - Amtrak's New (Temporary) Train

[justin_gram]

"Amtrak’s East River Tunnel Rehabilitation Project in New York will require closing one tunnel tube at a time to safely and efficiently conduct modernization work, resulting in minor capacity limits on train operations in this area. As a result, Amtrak is temporarily combining the Capitol Limited and Silver Star trains to create the Floridian, which will run between Chicago and Miami via Washington, DC—beginning November 10." https://www.amtrak.com/floridian-train

Quick video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI4bEVd ... RailWeekly

[Saturnalia]

Plus the unspoken truth that Amtrak is trying to save Superliners for the western Long Distance trains with this move as well, since they’ve woefully failed to maintain enough equipment to meet todays surging demand, let alone pre-pandemic train lengths.

This train will run with single-level equipment.

[AARR]

I appreciate the back-story to strategies like this. Thank you.

Plus the unspoken truth that Amtrak is trying to save Superliners for the western Long Distance trains with this move as well...

[GP30M4216]

I appreciate the back-story to strategies like this. Thank you.

Plus the unspoken truth that Amtrak is trying to save Superliners for the western Long Distance trains with this move as well...

Amtrak may not have acknowledged the equipment benefits of freeing up the Capitol superliners….but Rail Passengers did: https://railpassengers.org/happening-no ... floridian/

The Capitol presently runs with 3 trainsets of 5 superliners each, plus a Viewliner baggage car on each consist. By my reckoning, releasing the Capitol supers will allow 6 coaches, 3 Sleepers, 3 Trans-dorms, and 3 diner-lounges move to other Superliner trains, plus any protect cars kept in DC.

It’ll be interesting to see how the timekeeping goes in the new, much longer route…

[GTW6401]

I was interested at first when I heard the Floridian name, but was disappointed to see it running via Washington DC.

I've been considering this trip since my parents moved to Florida in 2018. They live twenty minutes south of Tampa.

I would spend the night in Washington DC because the connection with the Capitol Limited and Silver Star is too tight. It's about 90 minutes if both are on time. I can visit friends living there and do some sightseeing.

It's not that expensive for me to fly from Detroit to Tampa. I find the cheapest flight, and park at my grandparents house.

I can use my parents vehicle, so my main expenses are the airfare. It takes about five minutes to get past security at DTW.

The Silver Star arrives in Tampa at 1:09pm, which isn't bad. The main thing discouraging me from using Amtrak is the price of a roomette. That's over 700 dollars from DC to Florida, plus the cost from Toledo on the Capitol Limited.

Amtrak should have a Chicago to Florida train that runs via Nashville. Plenty of people are moving to Tennessee that would likely use that service.