Amtrak Curtails Service to Florida Due to Nicole

Amtrak has begun to curtail service to Florida in advance of the expected Thursday arrival of Hurricane Nicole.

The southbound runs of the Silver Star and Silver Meteor that departed New York on Tuesday will terminate today in Jacksonville, Florida.

Starting today, the Auto Train is cancelled in both directions. The southbound Silver Star will operate from New York to Jacksonville while its northbound counterpart will originate in Jacksonville.

The southbound Silver Meteor is cancelled while the northbound Meteor will originate in Jacksonville.

The Auto Train also will not operate in either direction on Thursday while the southbound Silver Star will terminate in Jacksonville and the Silver Meteor is cancelled.

Also on Thursday, the northbound Silver Star will originate in Jacksonville while the Silver Meteor is cancelled.

The service advisory said that on Friday the Silver Star will originate in Jacksonville while the northbound Silver Meteor is cancelled.

No mention was made in the advisory about operations of the southbound Silver Meteor or Silver Star on Friday.

Silver Meteor Returns, Service Resumes to Miami

Amtrak has begun reinstating its New York-Miami Silver Meteor and resuming operations of the Silver Star between Miami and Jacksonville, Florida.

The Star has been suspended south of Jacksonville due to damage caused by flooding during Hurricane Ian in the vicinity of Kissimmee, Florida. That track has since been repaired by host railroad CSX.

The first departure of the Silver Star from New York that will operate to Miami was Oct. 14 while the first departure from Miami of the Star for New York will be on Oct. 15.

The Silver Meteor was suspended last January with Amtrak citing a shortage of workers and serviceable equipment.

Trains magazine reported on its website that reinstatement of the Meteor will result in a net loss of one Viewliner sleeping car on the New York-Miami route.

The magazine reported that the Silver Meteor and Silver Star will each carry two sleepers. Since January the Silver Star has carried five sleepers along with four or five Amfleet coaches.

The Star and Meteor will each be assigned three sleepers apiece.

Before it was suspended earlier this year the Silver Meteor was assigned three sleeping cars while the Silver Star had two.

The first departures from New York and Miami for the Silver Meteor will be Oct. 15 and 16 respectively.

The reduction in sleeper capacity between New York and Miami with the reinstatement of the Meteor has resulted in some passengers who had booked sleeping car space being notified by Amtrak that the space they had reserved was no longer available, Trains reported.

One such passenger told Trains he received an automated voice mail advising him to contact Amtrak reservations about a “service disruption.”

He then learned that the car in which he had reserved space back in April would not be operating on his December dates of travel aboard the Meteor and no alternative sleeping car space was available for those dates or any nearby dates on the Meteor or the Silver Star.

The Trains report also said Amtrak plans to operate nine Superliner sleeping cars on the Auto Train starting Nov. 1.

Most Florida, Georgia Service Restored

Amtrak resumed partial operation on Sunday of services that had been cancelled to Florida and Georgia due to Hurricane Ian.

The Auto Train between Lorton, Virginia, and Sanford, Florida, resumed operating over the length of its route as did the New York-Savannah, Georgia, Palmetto.

The Silver Star for now is operating only between New York and Jacksonville, Florida.

Passengers traveling to Orlando and Tampa were to be accommodated on a bus.

The first southbound Silver Star departed New York on Sunday. The first northbound Star is to leave Jacksonville on Monday.

The service advisory did not say when service between Jacksonville and Miami would be restored.

Service Cancellations Continue Today Due to Ian

Amtrak services to Florida and Georgia that had earlier this week been cancelled due to Hurricane Ian will remain largely sidelined today (Oct. 1).

In a service advisory Amtrak said the Auto Train and Silver Star are cancelled on Saturday over the length of their routes.

The Palmetto will operate between New York and Washington, but is cancelled between Washington and Savannah, Georgia.

Palmetto Suspended due to Hurricane Ian

Amtrak has suspended operations of the New-York Savannah, Georgia, Palmetto due to Hurricane Ian.

In a service advisory, Amtrak said No. 89 did not operate south of Washington on Thursday and will do so again today. Service south of Washington is suspended.

Earlier in the week, Amtrak had announced that the Auto Train and Silver Star would be suspended through Friday over the entirety of their routes.

The service advisory, which was posted on Thursday morning, did not indicated which of these trains might resume operating on Saturday.

Amtrak Extends Suspensions of Florida Trains

In a service advisory posted on Tuesday, Amtrak has extended the suspension of its Auto Train and Silver Star through Saturday.

The suspensions began Tuesday in advance of Hurricane Ian, which was expected to make landfall on the west coast of Florida.

The latest advisory said the New York-Miami Silver Star is cancelled over the entirety of its route through Saturday.

The Auto Train, which operates between Lorton, Virginia, and Sanford, Florida, is cancelled in its entirety through Friday.

Amtrak said passengers affected by the service cancellations will be accommodated on other trains and the carrier will waive any fees for reservation changes.

Florida Trains Cancelled Ahead of Storm

Amtrak has cancelled departures of two trains in advance of the arrival of Hurricane Ivan in Florida and the Southeast.

The passenger carrier said the Silver Star and Auto Train would not leave their respective terminals on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Silver Star operates between New York and Miami while the Auto Train operates between Lorton, Virginia, and Sanford, Florida.

The Silver Star that left New York on Monday was to terminate in Jacksonville, Florida, on, Tuesday morning and originate there on Tuesday evening.

The Silver Star will not operate over any portion of its route southbound on Wednesday or northbound on Thursday.

The Auto Train will not depart either of its terminals on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

An Amtrak service advisory said additional train cancellations may be made later in the week depending on how much damage the storm causes.

Amtrak to Restore Suspended Service on Oct. 3

Amtrak will restore fully daily service on Oct. 3 to long distance trains that are now operating five days a week.

The Rail Passengers Association reported on its website that the change affects the New York-New Orleans Crescent and the City of New Orleans between Chicago and New Orleans.

Also on Oct. 3, RPA, said the now suspended Silver Meteor will resume operation between New York and Miami.

In recent months the only service between New York and Miami has been the Silver Star, which follows a different route from the Meteor in North Carolina and South Carolina.

RPA also said some improvements in food service aboard trains might be rolled out this fall but no details on what those changes might entail are yet available.

Amtrak cited staffing shortages for reducing the frequency of most long-distance trains in January to five days a week.

Most of those service cuts have since been reversed and train operations have reverted to seven days a week.

The RPA report said Amtrak is now confident that it will have the staff and equipment needed to bring the rest of the trains back on to pre-pandemic schedules.

However, the RPA report did not say whether the service restorations includes reinstating service now suspended in the Chicago-Carbondale, Illinois, corridor.

Since January the State of Illinois supported service on that route has been only the northbound Saluki in the morning and the southbound Illini in late afternoon and evening.

Silver Star Consists Expanded

In suspending the New York-Miami Silver Meteor starting Jan. 24 Amtrak said it would increase capacity as needed on two other trains operating in the corridor.

Trains magazine reported on its website that the New York-Miami Silver Star has been assigned additional coaches and Viewliner sleeping cars.

The Star is now operating with up to five sleeping cars. It normally ran with two. The Meteor, however, typically ran with more cars, including three sleeping cars.

In its report, Trains said the Meteor typically has more cars than its counterpart because the Meteor has more connecting traffic from western and northern cities.

The schedule of the Silver Star, is not conducive to as much connecting business.

The Trains report noted that the additional capacity that has been added to the Silver Star is in contrast with continued less than normal capacity on many other long distance trains.

The Silver Star and Silver Meteor follow different routes through North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia between Selma, North Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia.

The Palmetto, uses the same route as the Silver Meteor and is also continuing to operate daily between New York and Savannah.

The story can be viewed at https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/seeking-the-pricing-capacity-sweet-spot-on-two-florida-trains-analysis/

Looking Good in the Florida Sun

It is December 1979 and I’ve made a trip to and from Miami on the Silver Meteor southbound and the Silver Star northbound. In that era the trains on the route were pulled by SDP40F locomotives. No. 645 shown in the top image was assigned to pull the northbound Star out of Miami and I was to make a few photographs of as the train was boarding.

The bottom image was made in Jacksonville, Florida, in July 1977. I had just arrived on the southbound Floridian, which split at Jacksonville into Miami and St. Petersburg sections.

SDP40F No. 638 would lead the Miami section on this day. It parked on a station track when I photographed it.

In this era the Phase I paint scheme was still widely seen although the Phase II livery was already being applied to F40PH and P30CH locomotives.