(The following story by Ted Jackovics appeared on the Tampa Tribune website on September 4.)
TAMPA — Amtrak will restructure its Florida service Nov. 1, providing Tampa with more convenient schedules, restoring sleeping and dining cars here, and adding Orlando, Columbia, S.C., and Raleigh, N.C., to stops on the Miami-Tampa- New York route.
Four Florida cities – Dade City, Wildwood, Ocala and Waldo – will lose train service when the Silver Star is routed through Tampa to replace the Palmetto.
However, Amtrak will serve those cities with buses, adding Gainesville and the University of Florida as stops on a Jacksonville-Lakeland bus route to provide train connections.
The Palmetto, the all-coach train that leaves Tampa at 8:25 p.m. for New York and 7 a.m. for Miami, will operate between New York and Savannah beginning Nov. 1. Amtrak removed sleeping and dining cars from the Tampa route years ago, a move that reduced the train’s ridership.
The Silver Star will leave earlier than the Palmetto for New York at 5:22 p.m., and later for Miami at 10:35 a.m., when it begins serving Tampa Nov. 1. The new route will trim one hour from its 29-hour Florida- New York schedule.
The changes result from Amtrak discontinuing its U.S. Postal Service mail contracts to concentrate on carrying passengers, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said. The Palmetto’s schedule and its inconvenient times through Tampa were driven by mail business needs, he said.
“From a purely Tampa standpoint, Tampa is a big winner in all of this,” said David Johnson, of the National Association of Railroad Passengers in Washington.
“The Silver Star restores full service with its three sleeping cars and dining car, and with five or six coaches this winter adds much more capacity.”
Johnson expects the Silver Star to increase passenger demand in the Tampa Bay area, in addition to pleasing regular passengers.
“It enhances travel within Florida in addition to long-distance service,” Johnson said.
He said it is unfortunate that four Florida cities will lose train service, but he said Amtrak has been challenged to make business rather than political decisions on where to run trains.
Amtrak had no immediate details on the potential loss of jobs or reassignments involving the small stations.
About 300 employees nationwide will be affected by changes, with other closures planned for Ohio and Indiana.
Tampa served 42,523 passengers in fiscal 2003, sixth- highest ridership in Florida. Dade City served 1,644, Waldo 3,082, Wildwood 2,153 and Ocala 8,842.
Eliminating mail and express cars will shorten trains and eliminate cumbersome freight braking systems, Johnson said, That means swifter acceleration and deceleration, trimming minutes from schedules at each stop.