Suggested Rationalization of Amtrak Florida Service
Suggested Rationalization of Amtrak Florida Service
March 5, 1999
Prepared by
United Rail Passenger Alliance
Jacksonville, Florida
Restructuring of Amtrak Florida Service
March 5, 1999
Background:
Amtrak has experienced appreciable losses in both passengers and revenue passenger miles since FY 1993, the last year before drastic changes were made to its Florida service.
| Fiscal Year | FY 93 | FY 94 | FY 95 | FY 96 | FY 97 | FY 98 | Total |
| Ridership | 1,262,059 | 1,167,838 | 1,125,571 | 1,002,009 | 928,252 | 976,301 | 6,462,030 |
| Losses of ridership against FY 93 Benchmark |
-0- | (94,221) | (136,488) | (260,050) | (333,807) | (285,758) | (1,110,324) |
In FY 1993, Amtrak operated five trains into Florida.
| FY 93 Service | Destination | Frequency | Consist/Capacity |
| Auto Train | Sanford Auto Train | Daily | Heritage, crew car, 5 sleepers, two diners, one buffet diner, two lounges, 7 coaches, totaling 18 cars; capacity of 484 |
| Sunset Limited | Los Angeles to Miami | Tri-Weekly | Superliner, baggage, crew car, 2 sleepers, 3 coaches, diner, lounge, totaling 8 cars; capacity of 300 |
| Silver Meteor | New York to Miami/Tampa | Daily | Heritage, 2 baggage, crew car, 3 sleepers, diner, buffet diner, lounge, and 9 Amfleet coaches, totaling 18 cars; capacity of 549 |
| Silver Star | New York to Miami/Tampa | Daily | Heritage, 2 baggage, crew car, 3 sleepers, diner, buffet diner, lounge, and 9 Amfleet coaches, totaling 18 cars; capacity of 549 |
| Palmetto | New York to Jacksonville | Daily | Amfleet, baggage, four coaches, cafe car, totaling 5 cars; capacity of 216 |
| Total weekly roundtrip capacity at 100% load factor: 26,972 passengers | |||
| Total annual roundtrip capacity at 100% load factor: 1,402,544 passengers | |||
| FY 93 performance factor: 89.9% (Measurement of the total ridership in Florida occupying available seats or berths; does not account for on/offs or train turnover; is not load factor.) |
Circumstances in FY 93 and changes since:
1. In 1993, both the Silver Meteor and Silver Star were split in Jacksonville, with Miami and Tampa sections operating as separate trains South of Jacksonville. Each day, two trains became four trains. Also since that time, several station stops have been realigned that have made it difficult to make connections. As an example, Yemassee, South Carolina, the historic station for the Parris Island Marine Base has service by the Silver Meteor. Directly North, Quantico, Virginia, home to one of the United States Marine Corps’ largest bases and training facilities, is only served by the Carolinian, and not the Silver Meteor, which pass through this former stop during pre-dawn hours. Conversely, the Silver Palm, serving the identical route, passes through Yemassee at approximately 6 a.m., does not stop, and passes through Quantico at approximately 2:45 p.m. later that same afternoon and also doesn’t stop. Any type of military or military dependant family business that was historically generated has been lost by not making this connection.
2. The Palmetto terminated in Jacksonville, running as a day train to New York City, providing daylight service to Northeast Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia.
3. In 1993, the Sunset Limited was extended to Miami from New Orleans.
4. In 1994, schedules were changed to extend the Palmetto to Tampa, adding a diner and sleeping cars, and remove the Tampa section of one of the other trains. This still maintained two daily trains in and out of Tampa and three daily trains in and out of Jacksonville, However, when the Palmetto schedule was changed, it eliminated all-daylight service between Jacksonville and Washington.
5. In 1995, the Mercer cuts were implemented, discontinuing the Palmetto, leaving only one daily train serving Tampa. Later, the Tampa maintenance and crew base was closed, and service was reconfigured to run a train through Tampa on the way to and from Miami. At that point, midday Tampa schedules where changed to early morning and late night departures, and Tampa ridership continued to plummet.
6. In 1996, the Auto Train was converted from Heritage equipment to Superliner equipment.
7. In 1997, the Sunset Limited moved its Eastern terminus from Miami to Sanford.
8. In 1997 and 1998, the Silver trains were converted from Heritage sleepers to Viewliner sleepers and all Eastern trains with sleepers were assigned to the common consist pool.
9. In 1998, the Sunset Limited restored all-train service to Winter Park and Orlando, extending its route by 22 miles from Sanford to Orlando.
The following chart demonstrates the change of ridership since FY 93 by selected Florida stations. A complete chart of all Florida stations follows at the end of this document.
| Selected Station Ridership | FY 93 | FY 94 | FY 95 | FY 96 | FY 97 | FY 98 |
| Jacksonville | 121,352 | 111,215 | 104,162 | 86,577 | 91,233 | 67,767 |
| Change in Ridership against FY 93 | -0- | (10,137) | (17,190) | (34,775) | (30,119) | (53,585) |
| Miami | 96,843 | 84,960 | 80,859 | 74,029 | 72,612 | 81,447 |
| Change in Ridership against FY 93 | -0- | (11,883) | (15,984) | (22,814) | (24,231) | (15,396) |
| Orlando | 143,549 | 133,349 | 126,960 | 118,834 | 124,135 | 155,130 |
| Change in Ridership against FY 93 | -0- | (10,200) | (16,589) | (24,715) | (19,414) | 11,581 |
| Sanford Auto Train | 220,744 | 203,611 | 245,429 | 228,457 | 237,004 | 244,255 |
| Change in Ridership against FY 93 | -0- | (17,133) | 24,685 | 7,713 | 16,260 | 23,511 |
| Tampa | 149,722 | 126,417 | 58,200 | 35,869 | 30,207 | 39,936 |
| Change in Ridership against FY 93 | -0- | (23,305) | (91,522) | (113,853) | (119,515) | (109,796) |
Current consists and available seats and berths:
| FY 98 Service | Destination | Frequency | Consist/Capacity |
| Auto Train | Sanford Auto Train | Daily | Superliner, crew car, 4 sleepers, 2 Deluxe sleepers, 3 diners, 1 lounge diner, 1 lounge, 6 coaches, totaling 18 cars; capacity of 662 |
| Sunset Limited | Los Angeles to Orlando | Tri-Weekly | Superliner, baggage, crew car, 2 sleepers, 3 coaches, diner, lounge, totaling 9 cars; capacity of 300 |
| Silver Meteor | New York to Miami | Daily | Common consist, baggage, crew car, 2 Viewliner sleepers, diner, lounge, and 4 Amfleet coaches, totaling 10 cars; capacity of 280 |
| Silver Star | New York to Miami | Daily | Common consist, baggage, crew car, 2 Viewliner sleepers, diner, lounge, and 4 Amfleet coaches, totaling 10 cars; capacity of 280 |
| Silver Palm | New York to Miami via Tampa | Daily | Common consist, baggage, crew car, 2 Viewliner sleepers, diner, lounge, and 4 Amfleet coaches, totaling 10 cars; capacity of 280 |
| Total weekly roundtrip capacity at 100% load factor: 22,828 passengers | |||
| Total annual roundtrip capacity at 100% load factor: 1,187,056 | |||
| FY 98 performance factor: 82.2% (Measurement of the total ridership in Florida occupying available seats or berths; does not account for on/offs or train turnover; is not load factor.) |
Comments about current Florida service:
1. Current annual passenger capacity in and out of Florida is well below 1993 capacity, 1,402,544, versus today’s 1,187,056, a difference of 215,488 seats per year.
2. Closing the Tampa maintenance and crew base saved several millions of dollars per year in avoidable expenses, however, the resulting dramatic drop in ridership dictates that a larger amount of revenue was lost than costs saved. Based on FY 98 versus FY 93, conservative estimates show the closing of the Tampa maintenance and crew base saved less than $4,000,000 per year, but loss in revenue due to route restructuring, schedule changing, and participating in the common consist pool is conservatively estimated at over $14,000,000 per year. Therefore, $14,000,000 in revenue per year was lost to save $4,000,000 per year in expenses.
3. The Auto Train currently operates at an annual load factor of only 50.5%, due to seasonal flow demand. This represents a tremendous amount of capacity that could be used to better advantage in a restructuring of service.
4. Amtrak is preparing to open a fourth route in Florida, Jacksonville to Miami via the Florida East Coast Railway. Current plans call for shifting one train out of the lucrative Orlando market to serve the new, smaller, Atlantic coast market.
5. Only one Florida train per day currently serves the Raleigh and Columbia markets. These markets are larger than the combined markets of Charleston, Florence and Fayetteville.
6. Current schedules are designed for early morning, midday, and early evening departures from New York City, with corresponding midday, late afternoon, and late evening arrivals in Miami. Florida is no longer primarily a destination state for Northern travelers, but rather a large-market origination state for travelers going North.
7. Train No. 89, the Southbound Silver Palm departs New York City at 7:45 a.m. This early departure does not allow for any connecting business from New England or New York State, and only marginal connections from Keystone service at Philadelphia. There is a single connection at Wilson, North Carolina with Carolinian service for Raleigh and Charlotte. Other than the single North Carolina connection, there are no connecting trains that feed this train at any point South of Philadelphia. Northbound, No. 90 connects with the Carolinian again for Raleigh and Charlotte, In Washington, the train makes two connections, one with a daily all-stops trains to Boston, and the Twilight Shoreliner.
8. The nearly-new Viewliner equipment has seen continuous, rigorous service since its introduction less than three years ago. As a result, the equipment is urgently in need of maintenance to correct both operating and safety defects. Because of only 51 Viewliner sleepers being available to equipment six daily routes, the equipment has not been well maintained. Pressure needs to be taken off of this equipment in order to restore it to good operating condition.
Recommendations for improved Florida service:
Reconfigure Florida service to restore revenue and capacity enjoyed prior to introduction of Viewliners and common consist program. Plan includes one long distance train via Orlando into Tampa, one train via Ocala into Miami, one train via Orlando to Miami, and one train via Daytona Beach/Florida East Coast Railway route to Miami. Plan offers same-train service from Toronto, Montreal, Boston and New York to major markets in Florida including Tampa, Ocala, Orlando, Daytona Beach, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami. Also provides additional frequency of service between Chicago - Toledo - Cleveland - Erie - Buffalo and Albany. All low level equipment can be maintained in Hialeah. Will require 20 sets of equipment (all currently available from existing common consist pool). This plan also includes the expansion of Auto Train service beyond its traditional role in Florida service.
1. Reopen the Tampa maintenance and crew base to provide enhanced service to the West Coast of Florida.
2. Extend the Sunset Limited, Nos. 01/02 from Orlando to Tampa, and move maintenance to Tampa. Requires no extra sets of equipment, Adds major markets of Tampa/St. Petersburg and Florida Sun Coast, along with Kissimmee, and Lakeland. By eliminating deadhead move from Sanford to Orlando, will only extend crew running time less than one hour over present scheduling. Allows maintenance reserve trainsets to be shared with other Superliner trains in and out of Tampa. Add more frequencies to Sunset schedule; required one train set per roundtrip from Florida to Los Angeles. If two trainsets were added between New Orleans and Florida, the Eastern end of the Sunset could become daily, providing another daily route between Chicago and Florida. As has been previous pointed out in other documents, new Superliner equipment is self-financing due to the cash flow which is generated by each car in service. Any new Superliner equipment which may be ordered to take the Sunset or any other non-daily train daily would not add to negative debt burden.
3. Reconfigure Silver Meteor, Nos. 97/98 to operate Miami to Montreal via Orlando, Charleston, New York and over current Vermonter route. Retain most facets of current schedule Miami- New York. Allows connectivity with VIA system in Montreal.
4. Route Silver Star, Nos. 91/92 Miami to New York, via Ocala and Raleigh. Keep same general schedule as train now runs for late afternoon arrival in New York. Silver Star equipment short turns same day in New York to become Lake Shore Limited, Nos. 48/49 on current route, with late afternoon departure from New York.
5. Route Silver Palm, Nos. 89/90 Tampa to Boston, via Orlando, Raleigh and New York. Late morning departure from Tampa, late afternoon arrival in Boston. Replace Boston section of Lake Shore Limited with new train, routed Boston to Chicago via Buffalo and Cleveland, short turning equipment same day for an early evening departure from Boston.
6. Route new FEC route train (Everglades?) Miami - Daytona Beach - Raleigh - New York - Toronto, providing overnight service from New York City to Toronto. Late afternoon departure from Miami; late evening departure from Jacksonville. Allows connectivity with VIA system in Toronto.
7. Split Auto Train, Nos. 52/53 into two units, passenger and automobiles. Dispatch automobile carriers ahead of passenger section. Turn passenger section into all-station stop service on current route, providing extra passengers and revenues from intermediary stops. Extend endpoints and maintenance for passenger section to Tampa and Washington. Allows additional capacity in and out of Orlando. Share maintenance reserve equipment with Sunset Limited in Tampa. Continue to maintain auto racks in Sanford.
8. To maintain cross-Florida service, create a new train with a morning departure from Tampa and midday arrival in Miami, turning the same day in later afternoon for return to Tampa. This train could be operated with one Superliner coach and one Superliner snack coach. Would only require one snack car attendant and T&E crew.
9. Since the Sunset Limited is catered in Los Angeles and New Orleans and the Auto Train is catered in Lorton, those conditions do not require a commissary operation to be instituted in Tampa. The Silver Palm can be catered in Washington and Boston.
10. Three sources of low level equipment exist for this proposed restructuring: a) current trainsets, b) converting the Crescent to Superliner service between New Orleans and Washington, and c) the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited, Nos. 448/449. Additionally, since the reintroduction of Heritage sleepers on the Three Rivers has demonstrated the availability and financial desirability of this equipment, one Heritage sleeper per Florida train could be added to each train set, creating a second class of sleeping car service and additional sleeping car capacity.
Suggested restructuring equipment needs and quick-reference route structure:
| FY 00 Service | Destination | Frequency | Consist/Capacity |
| Auto Train | Tampa to Washington via Orlando, Sanford, Charleston, and Lorton | Daily | Superliner, crew car, 4 sleepers, 2 Deluxe sleepers, 3 diners, 1 lounge diner, 1 lounge, 6 coaches, totaling 18 cars; capacity of 662 |
| Sunset Limited | Los Angeles to Orlando | Tri-Weekly | Superliner, baggage, crew car, 2 sleepers, 3 coaches, diner, lounge, totaling 9 cars; capacity of 300 |
| Silver Meteor | Miami to Montreal via Orlando, Charleston, and New York | Daily | Baggage, crew car, 2 Viewliner sleepers, 1 Heritage sleeper, diner, lounge, and 6 Amfleet coaches, totaling 13 cars; capacity of 409 |
| Silver Star | Miami to New York via Ocala and Raleigh (Same day turn for Lake Shore Limited) | Daily | Common consist, baggage, crew car, 2 Viewliner sleepers, 1 Heritage sleeper, diner, lounge, and 5 Amfleet coaches, totaling 12 cars; capacity of 355 |
| Silver Palm | Tampa to Boston via Orlando, Raleigh and New York (Same day turn for replacement of Boston section of Lake Shore Limited) | Daily | Common consist, baggage, crew car, 2 Viewliner sleepers, 1 Heritage sleeper, diner, lounge, and 5 Amfleet coaches, totaling 12 cars; capacity of 355 |
| Everglades | Miami to Toronto via Daytona Beach, Raleigh, and New York | Daily | Baggage, crew car, 1 Viewliner sleeper, 2 Heritage sleepers, diner, lounge, and 5 Amfleet coaches, totaling 13 cars; capacity of 398 |
| Cross Florida | Tampa to Miami | Daily | Superliner coach, Superliner snack coach; capacity of 120 |
| Total weekly roundtrip capacity at 100% load factor: passengers: 33,986 | |||
| Total annual roundtrip capacity at 100% load factor: 1,767,272 | |||
| FY 00 performance factor: N/A |
Amtrak Florida Service Ridership Comparison - (Data Source: Amtrak State Ridership Reports)
| Station | FY 93 Ridership Benchmark Year |
Ridership Change Against FY 93 |
FY 94 Ridership | Ridership Change Against FY 93 |
FY 95 Ridership | Ridership Change Against FY 93 |
FY 96 Ridership | Ridership Change Against FY 93 |
FY 97 Ridership | Ridership Change Against FY 93 |
FY 98 Ridership | Ridership Change Against FY 93 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chipley* | 1,760 | -0- | 2,578 | 818 | 2,194 | 434 | 2,234 | 474 | 1,597 | (163) | 1,624 | (136) |
| Crestview* | -0- | -0- | 1,921 | 1,921 | 1,404 | 1,404 | 1,396 | 1,396 | 1,179 | 1,179 | 1,260 | 1,260 |
| Dade City | 4,911 | -0- | 4,380 | (531) | 4,137 | (774) | 3,272 | (1,639) | 1,925 | (2,986) | 1,984 | (2,927) |
| Deerfield Beach | 29,314 | -0- | 28,422 | (892) | 30,328 | 1,014 | 26,869 | (2,445) | 23,293** | (6,021) | 23,450 | (5,864) |
| Delray Beach | 11,579 | -0- | 8,681 | (2,898) | 8,354 | (3,225) | 7,613 | (3,966) | 7,175** | (4,404) | 7,869 | (3,710) |
| DeLand | 26,694 | -0- | 24,938 | (1,756) | 24,069 | (2,625) | 21,819 | (4,875) | 20,082 | (6,612) | 21,081 | (5,613) |
| Ft. Lauderdale | 51,306 | -0- | 47,257 | (4,049) | 50,010 | (1,296) | 42,968 | (8,338) | 40,669** | (10,637) | 42,441 | (8,865) |
| Hollywood | 31,431 | -0- | 29,288 | (2,143) | 31,258 | (173) | 26,098 | (5,333) | 22,945** | (8,486) | 25,675 | (5,756) |
| Jacksonville | 121,352 | -0- | 111,215 | (10,137) | 104,162 | (17,190) | 86,577 | (34,775) | 91,233 | (30,119) | 67,767 | (53,585) |
| Kissimmee | 44,425 | -0- | 39,863 | (4,562) | 31,820 | (12,605) | 28,028 | (16,397) | 24,829** | (19,596) | 28,706 | (15,719) |
| Lake City* | 1,035 | -0- | 1,035 | 0 | 1,201 | 166 | 1,013 | (22) | 929 | (106) | 922 | (113) |
| Lakeland | 13,708 | -0- | 11,048 | (2,660) | 7,098 | (6,610) | 4,949 | (8,759) | 4,660 | (9,048) | 7,209 | (6,499) |
| Madison* | 835 | -0- | 915 | 80 | 877 | 42 | 858 | 23 | 878 | 43 | 810 | (25) |
| Miami | 96,843 | -0- | 84,960 | (11,883) | 80,859 | (15,984) | 74,029 | (22,814) | 72,612** | (24,231) | 81,447 | (15,396) |
| Ocala | 22,624 | -0- | 21,941 | (683) | 20,985 | (1,639) | 18,575 | (4,049) | 11,003 | (11,621) | 10,060 | (12,564) |
| Okeechobee | 3,650 | -0- | 3,788 | 138 | 4,506 | 856 | 4,198 | 548 | 3,866** | 216 | 4,209 | 559 |
| Orlando | 143,549 | -0- | 133,349 | (10,200) | 126,960 | (16,589) | 118,834 | (24,715) | 124,135** | (19,414) | 155,130~ | 11,581 |
| Palatka | 12,272 | -0- | 10,738 | (1,534) | 11,619 | (653) | 11,150 | (1,122) | 11,086 | (1,186) | 13,501 | 1,229 |
| Pensacola* | 4,750 | -0- | 5,497 | 747 | 4,658 | (92) | 4,253 | (497) | 4,531 | (219) | 5,567 | 817 |
| Sanford | 15,857 | -0- | 15,047 | (810) | 14,868 | (989) | 20,729 | 4,872 | 19,256 | 3,399 | 12,883~ | (2,974) |
| Sanford Auto Train | 220,744 | -0- | 203,611 | (17,133) | 245,429 | 24,685 | 228,457 | 7,713 | 237,004 | 16,260 | 244,255 | 23,511 |
| Sebring | 17,228 | -0- | 17,500 | 272 | 16,310 | (918) | 14,254 | (2,974) | 14,302** | (2,926) | 15,205 | (2,023) |
| Tallahassee* | 3,889 | -0- | 5,510 | 1,621 | 5,030 | 1,141 | 4,927 | 1,038 | 3,241 | (648) | 3,177 | (712) |
| Tampa | 149,722 | -0- | 126,417 | (23,305) | 58,200 | (91,522) | 35,869 | (113,853) | 30,207 | (119,515) | 39,926 | (109,796) |
| Waldo | 15,723 | -0- | 14,109 | (1,614) | 15,332 | (391) | 14,723 | (1,000) | 8,326 | (7,397) | 5,549 | (10,174) |
| West Palm Beach | 56,583 | -0- | 58,337 | 1,754 | 54,790 | (1,793) | 50,401 | (6,182) | 47,205** | (9,378) | 49,210 | (7,373) |
| Wildwood | 7,679 | -0- | 6,593 | (1,086) | 6,656 | (1,023) | 5,292 | (2,387) | 2,814 | (4,865) | 2,572 | (5,107) |
| Winter Haven | 51,435 | -0- | 48,058 | (3,377) | 60,412 | 8,977 | 52,483 | 1,048 | 23,731** | (27,704) | 22,359 | (29,076) |
| Winter Park | 26,219 | -0- | 25,556 | (663) | 26,380 | 161 | 23,237 | (2,982) | 20,024** | (6,195) | 25,979~ | (240) |
| Total Florida Ridership | 1,262,059 | -0- | 1,167,838 | (94,221) | 1,125,571 | (136,488) | 1,002,009 | (260,050) | 928,252 | (333,807) | 976,301 | (285,758) |
Note 1: In FY 93, in addition to the Sunset Limited from California and the Auto Train, Florida was served by three New York daily trains, the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, and Palmetto. The Meteor and Star were both 18 car trains which split in Jacksonville to form Miami and Tampa sections. The Palmetto operated from New York to Jacksonville only.
Note 2: In FY 94, schedules were changed to extend the Palmetto to Tampa (with diner and sleeping cars), and remove the Tampa section of one of the other trains. This still maintained two daily trains in and out of Tampa and three daily trains in and out of Jacksonville. However, when the Palmetto schedule was changed, it eliminated all-daylight service between Jacksonville and Washington.
Note 3: In FY 95, the Mercer cuts were implemented, discontinuing the Palmetto, leaving only one daily train serving Tampa. Later, the Tampa maintenance and crew base was closed, and service was reconfigured to run a train through Tampa on the way to Miami. At that point, midday Tampa schedules were changed to early morning and late night departures, and Tampa ridership continued to plummet.
Note 4: In FY 98, in addition to the Sunset Limited and Auto Train, three daily trains serve Florida, the Silver Meteor, Silver Star and Silver Palm. Total capacity is 17 revenue cars and nine non-revenue cars. In early 1999, it was announced the deadhead sleeper on the Silver Palm will be switched to the Silver Star and run as a revenue car, bringing the total number of revenue cars to 18.
* Station serves only Sunset Limited, which began service in Florida in March, 1993
** In FY 97, the Sunset Limited moved its Eastern terminus from Miami to Sanford
In FY 98, the Sunset Limited restored all-train service to Winter Park and Orlando