A Tampa-Chicago Amtrak route is here — for now
Starting in November, rail passengers will have a new temporary route that takes them directly from Tampa to the Midwest.
Dubbed the Floridian, Amtrak’s new service combines two existing routes — the Silver Star, a Miami-New York route that hits Tampa; and the Capitol Limited, which heads northwest from Washington, D.C. to Midwest cities like Cleveland and Toledo before making a final stop in Chicago.
The Floridian takes its name after the route that brought customers from Chicago to St. Petersburg for nearly a decade in the 1970s. But the renewal of the service may be short-lived. The Floridian replaces the Silver Star to reduce traffic in New York’s East River Tunnel, which is under construction for a modernization project until 2027.
Passengers bound for New York from Florida will use another route, the Silver Meteor, which will run as usual.
The announcement comes months after Tampa Bay was skipped in preliminary proposals for a permanent Chicago-Florida route. That proposed route would shuttle passengers more efficiently to Florida by heading directly southeast, with stops in Tennessee and Georgia before terminating in Miami.
Those proposals drew ire from local transportation advocates, who pointed to Tampa Bay’s longstanding connections to the Midwest among residents and tourists. Tampa Union Station was the second-busiest Amtrak hub in Florida last fiscal year, with nearly 130,000 passengers.
Passengers on the Floridian bound from Tampa to Chicago can expect a nearly two-day commute. The inaugural train takes off Sunday, Nov. 10 at around 5 p.m. and ends up in Chicago around 9 a.m. Tuesday. Coach prices start at $109, while a private room will cost upwards of $1,500.
Jim Mathews, head of the Rail Passengers Association, a national advocacy group, hailed the Floridian as a revival of long-absent nonstop service from Florida to the Midwest.
“We’re thrilled that a new generation of American passengers will be able to experience this service for themselves,” he said.
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