The ''Floridian'' is an

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

long-distance passenger train that operates daily between

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, via

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

and

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. Service officially began on November 10, 2024. The train was formed as a combination of two existing trains: the ''

Capitol Limited The ''Capitol Limited'' is a temporarily discontinued daily Amtrak train between Washington, D.C., and Chicago, running via Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Service began in 1981. On November 10, 2024, Amtrak temporarily combined the ''Capitol Limit ...

'', which operated overnight between Chicago and Washington, D.C., and the ''

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against a ...

'', which operated overnight between

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and Miami. Amtrak intends the train to be temporary, in response to planned rehabilitation work in the

East River Tunnels The East River Tunnels are four single-track railroad passenger service tunnels that extend from the eastern end of Pennsylvania Station under 32nd and 33rd Streets in Manhattan and cross the East River to Long Island City in Queens. The trac ...

, as well as a shortage of Superliner cars. It operates with single-level

Amfleet Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger car (rail), passenger cars built by the Budd Company for American company Amtrak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Budd based the Amfleet design on its earlier Budd Metroliner, Me ...

and

Viewliner The Viewliner is a single-level railroad car type operated by Amtrak on most long-distance routes operating east of Chicago. The first production cars, consisting of an order of 50 sleeping cars, entered service in 1994. From 2015–2016, 70 Vi ...

passenger cars.

History

created the ''

'' in 1981 as a Washington section of the Chicago–New York ''

Broadway Limited The ''Broadway Limited'' was a passenger train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) between New York City and Chicago from 1912 to 1995. It was the Pennsylvania's premier train, competing directly with the New York Central Railroad's '' 2 ...

'', with the split occurring in Pittsburgh. It became a fully separate train in 1986. The train gained bilevel Superliner cars in 1994. Amtrak inherited the ''

'' from the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

in 1971. Amtrak previously used the name ''Floridian'' for a Chicago–Miami service that ran from 1971 to 1979 via

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, and

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

. ''Trains'' magazine speculated in July 2024 that Amtrak intended to combine the two trains, based on "circumstantial evidence gleaned from Amtrak’s booking site." Amtrak confirmed this speculation on September 23, 2024, announcing the temporary merger of the ''Capitol Limited'' and the ''Silver Star''. The new train, called the ''Floridian'', will use the entire route of the ''Capitol Limited'' between Chicago and Washington, D.C., and the route of the ''Silver Star'' between Washington, D.C. and Miami. The combined train will use single-level

and

cars from the ''Silver Star'' and carry the train numbers 40 and 41, which were previously assigned to the and . Amtrak cited two reasons for the move: reducing the number of movements through the

during planned reconstruction work, and meanwhile freeing up Superliner cars for use on Western long-distance trains.

Equipment

The ''Floridian'' uses single-level

and

equipment, with a consist similar to that of the ''Silver Star''. A typical ''Floridian'' has two

GE P42DC The GE Genesis (officially trademarked GENESIS) is a series of passenger diesel locomotives built by GE Transportation for Amtrak, Metro-North, and Via Rail between 1992 and 2001. A total of 321 units were produced. Designed to meet Amtrak's s ...

Siemens ALC-42 The Siemens Charger is a family of Diesel–electric transmission, diesel-electric/Electro-diesel locomotive, dual-mode passenger locomotives designed and manufactured by Siemens Mobility for the North American market. There are five variants o ...

diesel locomotives, four Amfleet II coaches, an Amfleet cafe/lounge, a Viewliner diner, two Viewliner sleepers, and a Viewliner baggage car. Amtrak plans to add a third sleeper in April 2025.

Stations

References

External links

* {{Amtrak routes Long-distance Amtrak routes Railway services introduced in 2024