WASHINGTON — Anything can, and generally does, happen to impede trains on Amtrak’s network. On Sunday, Nov. 17, for instance, Norfolk Southern emergency repairs to an elderly drawbridge south of Chicago delayed the Miami-bound Floridian (and two trains headed to Michigan) more than 2 hours, 20 minutes. The setback was typical of timekeeping hiccups the train faced after one full week of revenue operation.
Along with anticipated punctuality challenges, here are a few observations for anyone planning to sample the “temporary” conjoining of the Chicago-Washington, D.C., Capitol Limited and what was the New York-Miami Silver Star.
Expect tardy operation
The worst system delays during the past week befell the eastbound Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, and Texas Eagle (arrivals on Nov. 17 or 18 were hobbled by more than 8 hours). By comparison, eastbound Floridians into Washington, D.C., going south across the 7 days ranged from on time to 34 minutes behind schedule. The exception: Sunday’s drawbridge mishap resulted in a 1-hour, 42-minute late arrival today (Monday, Nov. 18).
The scheduled 38-minute dwell time on Union Station’s lower-level platforms was routinely exceeded, however, perhaps because onboard service crews continue to change there. The train always lost about an hour south of Jacksonville, Fla., and never arrived into Miami less than an hour late; the worst arrival into the remote Hialeah terminal was 3 hours.
Northbound delays into Washington, D.C. ranged from 19 minutes (Nov. 16) to more than four hours (Nov. 14). The Florida tardiness usually gets compounded by congestion around single-track portions of CSX’s A-line between Selma, N.C., and Petersburg, Va., when the train arrives out of its scheduled slot. Passengers going to Chicago can usually count on a delay reduction of about an hour; arrival today into Chicago was only 3 minutes late. It’s definitely luck of the draw, but it appears passengers needn’t worry about missing transfers to western trains.
Washington connection ‘guarantees’
That brings up another issue. For the large number of Northeast patrons who formerly had a one-seat ride to and from the Southeast on the Silver Star, there is no dedicated connection. Instead, ticketed transfers between the Floridian and points north of the Nation’s Capital are strictly “by the book.”
It is understandable that a conservative approach is warranted for the northbound Floridian. The guaranteed choices for a scheduled 3:06 p.m. arrival are a Northeast Regional at 6:10 p.m. all days, and Acelas at 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday or 5 p.m. Sunday. There are a host of earlier Washington D.C. Regional and Acela northbound departures starting about an hour after the Floridian is scheduled to arrive:
Mon.-Fri.: 3:55 p.m. (Acela), 4:02 p.m., 5:05 p.m.
Saturday: 4:25 p.m., 5:25 p.m.
Sunday: 4:15 p.m.(Acela), 4:25 p.m., 5:20 p.m.
Given the unpredictability of host railroad handling, as demonstrated the first week, the only reasonable northbound approach is to go with the guarantee and see what Northeast connection changes are possible at the Union Station ticket window whenever the Floridian arrives. The 6:10 p.m. train on the weekends comes from Norfolk, Va., so it also stops on the lower-level platforms, but it recently has been late. The other trains originate in Washington, so they likely leave from the stub-end upper level platforms.
Considering Amtrak can better control timekeeping on track it dispatches, connections from the Northeast to the southbound Floridian are unnecessarily long. Rather than attempting to keep layovers as short as possible, “guaranteed” Washington arrivals for the scheduled 1:43 p.m. departure look like this:
Mon.-Fri.: 11:32 a.m. (Northeast Regional and 11:51 a.m. (Acela)
Sat.-Sun.: 12:18 p.m. (Regional) and 11:58 a.m. (Acela
Not allowed are connections from trains that are scheduled to arrive at 12:48 p.m. (Acela) and 12:52 p.m. (Regional) weekdays and 12:41 p.m. (Regional) weekends.
Washington Union Station does have amenities to make the layover palatable, but allowing passengers to book shorter connection times would make the Floridian more attractive, especially for travelers headed to and from destinations not served by the Silver Meteor.
Fare anomalies
In fact, fares Amtrak offers mitigate against Northeast passengers changing to the Floridian if a Meteor destination is an option. Sleeping car capacity constraints and coach pricing for the Chicago service have been previously discussed [see, Floridian debuts with delays; offers major coach travel discounts,” News Wire Nov. 11, 2024]. Changing to the Floridian at Washington is more expensive.
Significantly, $113 Chicago-Miami coach fare and similar bargains from other cities along its route have been maintained into the Thanksgiving holidays. Not surprisingly, the train is sold out on most departures next week. As of today, on days that it wasn’t, demand has pushed Chicago-Washington coach fares as high as $222 and Washington-Miami prices to $377 when buying those segments separately. So price shopping for travel on the Floridian is definitely worthwhile.
