Amtrak atation in Ft Lauderdale

[Scatter]

Hello!! I'm a newbie to Amtrak and was hoping someone could help me out. I'd like to take Amtrak from West Palm to the Ft Lauderdale airport so I don't have to drag someone from work to drive me down. However, the Ft Lauderdale airport is several miles from the Amtrak station, and I was wondering if the airlines provided shuttles from the Amtrak station to the airline terminals??

Anyone out there know for certain?? Thanks!!

 

[AlanB]

You can't take Amtrak from West Palm to Ft. Lauderdale. Amtrak is not allowed to carry passengers locally in that area. You'll need to take Tri-Rail to go from WPB to Ft. Lauderdale.

And there is a shuttle bus from the Tri-Rail station to the Airport. The schedule can be found here. Note: Adobe Acrobat is needed to see the schedule.

 

[p&sr]

I'd like to take Amtrak from West Palm to the Ft Lauderdale airport so I don't have to drag someone from work to drive me down. However, the Ft Lauderdale airport is several miles from the Amtrak station, and I was wondering if the airlines provided shuttles from the Amtrak station to the airline terminals??

I think you might rather take the Tri-Rail (www.tri-rail.com).

Amtrak serves this route twice daily, and does NOT go the the Airport.

Tri-Rail serves this route twelve times daily, has a Station right near the Airport, and has a connecting Shuttle to the Terminals.

Sorry to have to speak up for the Competition here, but commuter rail lines are a key component of our Rail System!

 

[AlanB]

Amtrak serves this route twice daily, and does NOT go the the Airport.

Just to make it clear, and as I noted in my post made just seconds before yours, they can't take Amtrak. It isn't an option at all, since Amtrak will not carry passengers locally between West Palm Beach and Miami.

Only Tri-Rail can carry local passengers.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

The Amtrak train schedules on the Amtrak site, and the published system timetables, include that information.

As an aid in reading the Amtrak schedules, if you look at trains 92 and 98, which depart Miami northbound, you will notice an " R " next to the times listed for each of the stations up to and including West Palm Beach for those trains. That " R " means those train will only allow passengers to BOARD the train at those stations, nobody is allowed to get off the train at those stations on those trains. On trains 91 and 97, which run southbound to Miami, you will notice a " D " next to their times at the stations from West Palm Beach on south to Miami. That " D " means that the trains only allow passengers to get off those trains at those stations - no passengers are allowed to board 91 or 97 at those stations. Also, where those " D " symbols appear, the train will not even stop at a " D " station if there are no passengers on board for whom that station is their destination, and they will depart those stations as soon as their station work is done - they do NOT have to wait for the scheduled time before they depart those stations. Frequently those trains can enter those corridors behind schedule and yet arrive at the final destination for the train on time or even early because they can make up significant time in that corridor, depending on passenger load and whether some stations can be bypassed completely.

There are some other stations in the system that operate this way as well, and those " R " and " D " letters signify that for those trains at those stations. For instance, the Long Distance trains including 19/20, 89/90, 91/92, 97/98 have the same sort of restrictions in roughly the Washington D.C. - New York corridor. Southbound they will take on passengers ONLY, and not allow passengers to get off at those stations, and Northbound they only allow passengers to get off the train, nobody can board at those stations.

Just as Tri-Rail provides frequent service from West Palm Beach on to down south of Miami, and therefore Amtrak does not allow "commuting" passengers on the Amtrak trains in that corridor, Amtrak and others provide frequent commuter and regional service in the Northeast Corridor from Washington on northward, so they don't allow the Amtrak long-distance trains to carry those type of passengers.

Also, Tri-Rail stops at quite a few MORE stations in the West Palm to south of Miami corridor than Amtrak does. Tri-Rail stops at every station Amtrak does EXCEPT the Amtrak Miami station itself, if I recall correctly, but Amtrak does NOT stop at all the Tri-Rail stations. Tri-Rail has a pretty good web site, and the trains themselves provide excellent service in that corridor - I live in the Orlando area, but have taken Amtrak down to that area several times and then used Tri-Rail and the other Southeast Florida mass transit systems, and those systems work pretty darn well and seem well-coordinated and integrated with each other.

Of course, they very rarely (i.e., NEVER) have to deal with winter snows that muck up the travel system up north. :lol:

One of the keys to understanding how the train schedules actually work is ALWAYS to look for symbols like the " R " and " D " and others, and when you see something like that, look up in the explanation of symbols on the schedule or timetable to see what they mean.

 

[p&sr]

Just to make it clear, and as I noted in my post made just seconds before yours, they can't take Amtrak. It isn't an option at all, since Amtrak will not carry passengers locally between West Palm Beach and Miami.
Only Tri-Rail can carry local passengers.

Yes, interesting about those "R" and "D" notes in the Timetable.

I notice that the Silver Star stops at Lakeland both before and after Tampa (both northbound and southbound).

On the first pass, nobody can get on. On the second pass nobody can get off.

This completely rules out local service between Lakeland and Tampa! I guess they didn't want to compete with the Amtrak Bus Service that makes the same connection, en route between Orlando and Ft. Myers.

Too bad, though, to see a train defeated by a bus... let alone by its OWN bus!

Also, Tri-Rail stops at quite a few MORE stations in the West Palm to south of Miami corridor than Amtrak does. Tri-Rail stops at every station Amtrak does EXCEPT the Amtrak Miami station itself, if I recall correctly, but Amtrak does NOT stop at all the Tri-Rail stations.

Tri-Rail stops right near the Miami Amtrak Station. Basically there is just a fence in between, so to connect legally you have to walk south a long block (to where the Metro-Rail Station is), jog west, then go north again about half a long block.

This was the station where (just after I bought my Tri-Rail Ticket to the Miami Airport) they closed the ticket window an hour before the last southbound train. I guess they're not used to "spur of the moment" travellers, especially in the off hours.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Actually I don't think competition with the bus was the problem. In fact, I don't think you can book the bus between those two stations, either. You cannot book the bus alone in Florida. For instance, you cannot book Tampa to Ft. Myers, unless it is as part of a train connection. The bus MUST be be part of a rail trip. When you try to book the bus alone, on the web site, the reservations system will include a warning that you must book that as part of a rail trip, and indicates that State law doesn't allow them to provide bus service intrastate unless it is part of a rail trip. Strangely enough I discovered that yesterday when dealing with almost the same question concerning short rail trips in Florida.

I really suspect that the Lakeland-Tampa problem may have been unique to the 91/92 trains, and the Amtrak computer system, as the system has two different station symbols for the Lakeland station, one for the stop in each direction, basically. Or it may simply be that Amtrak does not want anybody to try to commute between those stations on those trains. More likely, though, they were trying to avoid passenger confusion as to when their trains would arrive or depart from Lakeland, and headaches for the conductors and for the station agents, and to reduce the dwell time at the Lakeland station by only allowing detraining inbound and boarding outbound at Lakeland for both trains.

As an aside, we have found that generally the station agent and Conductors will allow holders of the Florida Resident Annual Railpass to travel between Lakeland and Tampa if they so desire, as use of the Florida Railpass does not involve the Amtrak reservations system - you just show the Conductor your Railpass and photo ID and get on the train, and fill out a small passenger trip sheet with your name, Railpass number, date, train number and origination and destination stations, which you then give to the conductor. It doesn't have to be filled out when you are boarding, but you have to get it to the Conductor as soon as you can do so after boarding. However, based on Amtrak policy, I suspect the Conductor would be within his or her rights to prevent even a Florida Railpass holder from traveling just between those two stations, so those few of us who have managed to make that trip are always polite and respectful when requesting the Conductor's permission to do so, which, on the whole, is always a good idea anyway.

 

[p&sr]

The bus MUST be be part of a rail trip.

Yes, there is that little detail. It works the same way in California (with an extensive system of Bus connections for the California Trains).

More likely, though, they were trying to avoid passenger confusion as to when their trains would arrive or depart from Lakeland, and headaches for the conductors and for the station agents, and to reduce the dwell time at the Lakeland station by only allowing detraining inbound and boarding outbound at Lakeland for both trains.

This is a good point. If people ask, When does that train arrive? or When does it depart?... they really DON'T want to get into things like, Do you mean the First or the Second arrival/departure, Before or After Tampa, when they just want to know about trips to/from places like Miami or Orlando or New York...

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Amtrak serves this route twice daily, and does NOT go the the Airport.

Just to make it clear, and as I noted in my post made just seconds before yours, they can't take Amtrak. It isn't an option at all, since Amtrak will not carry passengers locally between West Palm Beach and Miami.

Only Tri-Rail can carry local passengers.

Couldn't a passenger insistant on taking Amtrak book from, say, Lauderdale and Okeechobee, then simply walk off the train in WPB?

 

[Guest]

You guys are fantastic!! Thank you so much for the responses.It's really appreciated!!

 

[jackal]

Couldn't a passenger insistant on taking Amtrak book from, say, Lauderdale and Okeechobee, then simply walk off the train in WPB?

Yes, and it happens all the time (in California, too). It's a commonly-used loophole.

 

[AlanB]

Couldn't a passenger insistant on taking Amtrak book from, say, Lauderdale and Okeechobee, then simply walk off the train in WPB?

But that only works in one direction, not the other. You're still stuck going south bound.

And why would you want to pay so much more to ride one of Amtrak's two trains per day, when you could jump on the far more frequent and cheaper Tri-Rail.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Couldn't a passenger insistant on taking Amtrak book from, say, Lauderdale and Okeechobee, then simply walk off the train in WPB?

But that only works in one direction, not the other. You're still stuck going south bound.

And why would you want to pay so much more to ride one of Amtrak's two trains per day, when you could jump on the far more frequent and cheaper Tri-Rail.

I never suggested it made sense or was reasonable. I was only pointing out that it is possible.

 

[Rail Freak]

Couldn't a passenger insistant on taking Amtrak book from, say, Lauderdale and Okeechobee, then simply walk off the train in WPB?

But that only works in one direction, not the other. You're still stuck going south bound.

And why would you want to pay so much more to ride one of Amtrak's two trains per day, when you could jump on the far more frequent and cheaper Tri-Rail.

TRI RAIL? Man, I beginning to realize what a hick I really am!