Amtrak Silver Star

[DanBoris]

It looks like a change may be coming to the Amtrak Silver Star which currently runs between New York City and Miami with stops in Orlando and Kissimmee. If you try to book the train any time after December 5th, 2024 it only lets you book it as far north as Washington DC. I contacted Amtrak about this and was told that changes were coming to the route but they did not provide specifics.

The speculation is that Star is going to be combined with the Capitol Limited creating a new route that will run from Chicago to Miami. Limitations of Capitol Limited booking lends support to this rumor.

The Silver Meteor also runs from NYC to Miami, although on a slightly different route, and it appears un-effected.

Personally I liked the Star because it arrives in Orlando at around 10:00 AM and leaves at around 8:00 PM so I can still get a pretty full park day on my travel days. The Meteor runs closer to the middle of the day so can't do much more on the travel day.

 

[jec6613]

Amtrak is having a severe shortage of Viewliners at the moment as the Viewliner I need refurbishment. While it's possible that it'll run to Chicago via DC, that doesn't seem the most likely reason - much more likely that they have to re-equip with Superliners, which has happened in the past to the Cardinal.

Only seems odd that the Silver Star, their most popular long distance route, is the one getting truncated, but aside from the LSL it's the one with the most Viewliner sleepers so it's perhaps a choice of truncating one route vs truncating multiple.

 

[jec6613]

Quick update... it appears that only about 50 Viewliners are currently service of the 75 built, with almost half of the Viewliner I's sitting at Beech Grove, and Amtrak so far is quiet on any possible reason why, but whatever it is has been going on for a while, with the Night Owl and Cardinal losing sleepers in the last few years.

 

[DanBoris]

Amtrak still hasn't said anything about this possible change, but here is what is known as of 6/25:

1. The Silver Star, 92, is bookable TPA-NYP through 11/8/2024.
2. All classes on the Silver Star, 92, are "Sold Out" TPA-NYP, indicating a block on sales, starting 11/9/2024.
3. The Silver Star, 92, is bookable TPA-WAS on all dates, including on and after 11/9/2024.
4. Bedroom inventory drops from 10 to 4 and Family Rooms show as sold out on the Capitol Limited, 29, WAS-CHI from the 11/10/2024 departure onwards. This strongly, though not conclusively, indicates a replacement of Superliner sleepers by Viewliner sleepers effective 11/10/2024.

 

[beccasmom]

This post brought back some memories for me. Several years ago my mom and I took the Star/Meteor to WDW on a 2-for-1 deal. It was spring break time, so the fare was a steal. We were in coach, which was fine for both of us. My mom loved to fly, but just this once we decided on Amtrak leaving from 30th Street Station in Philly.

We had a great time and the Star arrived in Orlando at mid-morning and we started our trip “on time”. On our homeward trip we lost a lot of time on the Meteor before we even crossed over the Florida state line and the trip seemed endless, not to mention loud (the train was very crowded, unlike our outbound trip). But no real surprises there. The trip didn’t make us switch over from flying to taking the train to WDW, but it was great for mom/daughter bonding. I continue to use Amtrak for trips to NYC and DC, but they are relatively quick jaunts from Philly.