WASHINGTON — Anything can, and usually does, happen to disrupt trains on the Amtrak network. On Sunday, Nov. 17, for example, Norfolk Southern's emergency repairs to an old drawbridge south of Chicago delayed the trip to Miami. Floridian (and two trains to Michigan) over 2 hours and 20 minutes. This setback was typical of the timing problems the train faced after a full week of commercial operation.
Aside from the anticipated punctuality issues, here are some observations for anyone considering a taste of the Chicago-Washington, D.C. line's “temporary” route, Capitol Limited and what was the New York-Miami Silver Star.
Expect a late operation
The system's worst delays over the past week have been eastbound Head of South West, Sunset Limited, And Texas Eagle (arrivals on November 17 or 18 were delayed by more than 8 hours). In comparison, heading east Floridians to Washington, DC, southbound over the 7 days there was a delay ranging from 34 minutes to hour. The exception: Sunday's drawbridge accident caused a delay of one hour and 42 minutes today (Monday, November 18).
The scheduled dwell time of 38 minutes on the lower platforms at Union Station, however, has been regularly exceeded, perhaps because onboard service crews continue to change there. The train always lost about an hour south of Jacksonville, Florida, and never arrived in Miami less than an hour late; the worst arrival at the remote Hialeah terminal lasted 3 hours.
Delays northbound to Washington, DC ranged from 19 minutes (November 16) to more than four hours (November 14). The delay in Florida is typically made worse by congestion around single-track portions of CSX's A Line between Selma, North Carolina, and Petersburg, Virginia, when the train arrives outside of its scheduled slot. Chicago-bound passengers can typically count on a delay reduction of about an hour; arriving today in Chicago was only 3 minutes late. It's certainly a matter of luck, but it seems passengers don't have to worry about missing their transfer to Western trains.
Connection to Washington is “guaranteed”
This raises another problem. For the large number of North East customers who once had a single seat ride to and from the South East on the Silver star, there is no dedicated connection. Instead, paid transfers between the Floridian and points north of the nation's capital are strictly “by the book.”
It is understandable that a cautious approach is warranted for the northern sector. Floridian. Guaranteed choices for a 3:06 p.m. arrival are a Northeast Regional at 6:10 p.m. daily and Acelas at 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday or 5 p.m. Sunday. There are a multitude of former Washington D.C. Regional And Acela northbound departures starting about an hour after the Floridian is expected to arrive:
Monday to Friday: 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.(Acele)4:25 p.m., 5:20 p.m.
Given the unpredictability of running the host railway, as demonstrated in the first week, the only reasonable approach northbound is to stick to the guarantee and see what northbound connection changes is possible at the Union Station ticket counter each time the Floridian arrived. The 6:10 p.m. weekend train comes from Norfolk, Virginia, so it also stops at the lower platforms, but has been running late recently. The other trains come from Washington, so they probably depart from the upper level platforms.
Considering that Amtrak can better control the timing of shipments, connections from the Northeast to the South Floridian are unnecessarily long. Rather than trying to keep layovers as short as possible, the “guaranteed” arrivals in Washington for the scheduled 1:43 p.m. departure look like this:
Monday to Friday: 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
Connections from trains scheduled to arrive at 12:48 p.m. are not authorized (Acela) and 12:52 p.m. (Regional) weekdays and 12:41 p.m. (Regional) on weekends.
Washington Union Station does have amenities to make the layover pleasant, but allowing passengers to book shorter connection times would make the layover more pleasant. Floridian more attractive, particularly for travelers to and from destinations not served by the Silver meteor.
Tariff anomalies
In fact, the fares offered by Amtrak avoid passengers from the Northeast having to switch to Floridian if a Meteor the destination is an option. Sleeping car capacity constraints and coach fares for the Chicago service have already been discussed (see, Floridian starts with delays; Offers Big Discounts on Coach Travel,” News Wire November 11, 2024). Skip to Floridian in Washington, it's more expensive.
Importantly, the $113 Chicago-Miami coach fare and similar deals from other cities along its route were maintained through the Thanksgiving holiday. Unsurprisingly, the train will be full on most departures next week. Starting today, on days when that wasn't the case, demand pushed Chicago-Washington coach fares up to $222 and Washington-Miami fares to $377 by purchasing those segments separately. So purchase price to travel on the Floridian definitely worth it.
