A Southbound Adventure, through Ten States, from Chicago to Miami on The Floridian
// Last month, I rode Amtrak's The Floridian from Chicago to Miami. It's one of the American national rail operator's long-distance routes, a 2,000-mile ride from the shores of Lake Michigan to the palm-lined beaches of Florida. Over the years, I've taken a lot of trains in Canada and the U.S.; this ranks up there as one of the memorable trips. It's also reminder of the challenges that Amtrak faces as it tries to keep up a decent level of service, in spite of a dispiriting lack of support for passenger rail in a country that used to be a world leader in providing fast, efficient, and comfortable inter-city trains.
I rather enjoyed myself, though I'm not sure everyone on board did. And to be clear: this is definitely not an example of a high-speed service, of the kind I often write about in this newsletter. Quite the opposite: The Floridian is a textbook example of "slow travel," and therein lies its charm.
The Floridian was introduced late last year to make the best of a major infrastructure issue. The Silver Star is the Amtrak service that links New York City to Miami, but it's been put on hold due to the construction of the Gateway Project, which involves digging tunnels under the East River between Penn Station and the Sunnyside Yard in New Jersey (all in a good cause: the current two-track line has reached its capacity of two dozen trains an hour, and the Gateway Project is meant to double the number of trains, including the high-speed Acela Express, upon its completion...in 2035). To make the best of a sub-optimal situation, Amtrak joined part of the Silver Star route to the existing Chicago to Washington Capitol Limited, and dubbed it The Floridian. The last train to bear that name ran in 1979, but followed different tracks—taking the route of the Pennsylvania Railroad's storied South Wind—by way of Nashville, Birmingham, and Montgomery. Fast, luxurious southbound sleeper trains were commonplace up until the 1950s (see above), and the streamlined South Wind made the trip in 29 hours and ten minutes. Going by way of Pittsburgh, D.C, Raleigh, and Savannah, and Tampa, my itinerary called me to be on the train for just one hour short of two full days.
I wasn't worried about getting bored. I'd packed a good book (H.H.h.H., by Laurent Binet, a novel of Second World War anti-fascist resistance that I'd been trying to read for the last five years), and I'd reserved a roomette, which got me access to the Metropolitan Lounge at Chicago's Union Station.
