- Joined
- Feb 18, 2003
- Messages
- 8,509
The Silver Service is a viable operation because the train takes about a day from end to end. For the Meteor, about 27 hours New York to Miami. That is a reasonable trip for someone who does not want the hassle of flying.
A big problem with a Chicago to Florida train is timing. With today’s infrastructure, it is probable that the train would be a two night trip or a really, really long one night. The old PRR, L&N, ACL, FEC Southwind made the trip from Chicago to Miami in 32 hours forty years ago. Times have changed. Most of that route has not had to support passenger service for a long time. Today, the track and signal structure could not begin to permit a schedule anything like that of the Southwind. Just look at the Kentucky Cardinal. It took nearly 11 hours from Chicago to Louisville. Back in 1963 that same trip took less than seven hours.
Baring a huge, and I mean HUGE infusion of cash from Amtrak or someone else, a 42 hour trip Chicago to Miami is likely close to today’s reality, and that may be optimistic. With a 42 hour trip, if you pull out of CHI at 7:00am on a Monday, arrival in MIA would be 2:00am (with the time shift) early Wednesday morning. That is a very long ride. Going to two nights would make the trip more bearable, at least in a sleeper, and would permit better end-point departures and arrivals, but that would really bump expenses and would make this train a major money loser, even by Amtrak standards. Who would take that train when Southwest, AirTran, ATA, and the like will get you from Chicago, Louisville, and Nashville to Florida in a couple of hours?
I suspect that the reality of 2004 is that the era of the direct Chicago to Florida train is over. Better to spend whatever little cash is available on service that has a chance of making an impact. Why isn’t Atlanta to Miami ever mentioned? It would be a day train with some good city pairs.
A big problem with a Chicago to Florida train is timing. With today’s infrastructure, it is probable that the train would be a two night trip or a really, really long one night. The old PRR, L&N, ACL, FEC Southwind made the trip from Chicago to Miami in 32 hours forty years ago. Times have changed. Most of that route has not had to support passenger service for a long time. Today, the track and signal structure could not begin to permit a schedule anything like that of the Southwind. Just look at the Kentucky Cardinal. It took nearly 11 hours from Chicago to Louisville. Back in 1963 that same trip took less than seven hours.
Baring a huge, and I mean HUGE infusion of cash from Amtrak or someone else, a 42 hour trip Chicago to Miami is likely close to today’s reality, and that may be optimistic. With a 42 hour trip, if you pull out of CHI at 7:00am on a Monday, arrival in MIA would be 2:00am (with the time shift) early Wednesday morning. That is a very long ride. Going to two nights would make the trip more bearable, at least in a sleeper, and would permit better end-point departures and arrivals, but that would really bump expenses and would make this train a major money loser, even by Amtrak standards. Who would take that train when Southwest, AirTran, ATA, and the like will get you from Chicago, Louisville, and Nashville to Florida in a couple of hours?
I suspect that the reality of 2004 is that the era of the direct Chicago to Florida train is over. Better to spend whatever little cash is available on service that has a chance of making an impact. Why isn’t Atlanta to Miami ever mentioned? It would be a day train with some good city pairs.
h34r: Now everyone here knows what an advocate I am for rail, but frankly guys, those times stink! If you're going to get service started, the best scenario I can see is running TPA-ORL-JAX-SAV-ATL. This would solve a couple of big issues, A: we would have service to Atlanta from the south and B: there would be direct ORL-TPA service. Name: The Southerner There would be no real connections to speak of simply because of the times the train would have to leave ATL or TPA in order to make any halfway decent connections, but, you would be able to transfer from the Southerner to 98 in Orlando, transfer to the Southerner from 97 to the West/Northbound Southerner, transfer from the Southerner to 98, or transfer from 97 to the Southbound Southerner. Now this does have the potential to be a great little overnight trip leaving Miami at 3 PM arrival the next Morning in Atlanta at 7 AM and coming south leaving at 8 PM from Atlanta and arriving in Miami at noon. Now why these call times? It creates halfway decent boarding times in Orlando. Going north about an 8 PM boarding call, coming south a 7 AM detraining. Now it would get a little messy with the Palmetto, but hey, schedules can be arranged! I would probably run the Southerner with a single engine, baggage, Superliner TransDorm, 1 Superliner Sleeper, 1 Superliner Diner, 1 Superliner Lounge, and 2 Superliner coaches. Trainsets needed: 3.
