Pre-Amtrak The
Floridian as conceived by Amtrak was a successor of the
Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR)
South Wind, which operated over PRR track from Chicago to Louisville via
Logansport and
Indianapolis, Indiana; then L&N from Louisville to
Montgomery, Alabama; the
Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) from Montgomery via Waycross to Jacksonville; and then either the
Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) to Miami or the Atlantic Coast Line to
St. Petersburg. Amtrak also began serving the west coast of Florida by splitting the now-daily
South Wind into St. Petersburg and Miami sections. The train split at Auburndale, with one section continuing to Miami and another going to St.Petersburg via Tampa. On November14, the
South Wind was reconfigured as the
Floridian. The St.Petersburg and Miami sections were retained, but the split now occurred in Orlando, with the St.Petersburg section serving Tampa and the Miami section serving
Winter Haven. The split was moved further north to Jacksonville by the implementation of the April 1973 timetable. On paper, the new
Floridian should have been a success. It ran through several major Midwestern and Southern cities (Chicago, Louisville, Nashville, Birmingham) en route to Florida, and its predecessor had existed for over three decades. As well as Chicago–Florida passengers, the
Floridian carried significant intra-Florida traffic as well as short-distance passengers on the L&N portion. However, it was fraught with problems. It had to contend with deteriorating
Penn Central (PC) track in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, which resulted in occasional use of MoPac (former Chicago & Eastern Illinois) and L&N (former Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville: Monon) routes north of Louisville. In January 1977, the
Floridian was cancelled for two weeks due to severe winter weather in Chicago. Two other long-distance Penn Central trains retained by Amtrak, the
National Limited (successor to another PRR mainstay, the
Spirit of St. Louis) and the
James Whitcomb Riley, were plagued by similar problems. During Amtrak's tenure, it continued to utilize E-units from many railroads before replacing them with then-new
EMD SDP40F locomotives which began arriving in the mid-1970s. Unfortunately, these engines had a tendency to derail, especially on rickety PC trackage. The train suffered terrible delays and frequent derailments, including one at . The consists remained steam-heated, and never received
Head-End Power (HEP) equipment. The
Floridian was briefly combined with the
Auto-Train Corporation's
Louisville, Kentucky–
Sanford, Florida Auto-Train service in the mid-1970s. The success with the original
Lorton, Virginia–Sanford
Auto-Train did not replicate itself on the Louisville–Sanford run, in part due to the severe delays on the
Floridian, and the Louisville–Sanford
Auto-Train was suspended indefinitely a few years before Auto-Train Corporation itself finally succumbed to financial difficulties in April 1981. As part of this move Amtrak stopped serving
Union Station in Louisville on November1, 1976, instead using Auto-Train Corp's station near
Louisville International Airport. This continued until the
Floridians discontinuance. However, in 2007 Tennessee state officials said resumption of service was unlikely, since federal funds were unavailable. Officials also stated that there was insufficient demand to justify restoring rail service at the time. The bill passed the
Senate Commerce Committee with bipartisan support, and was later rolled into
President Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which was passed into law in November 2021. The report must be delivered to Congress within two years. The law also provides $2.4billion in new funds to Amtrak's long-distance route network. On October28, 2022, the
FRA announced the beginning of the
Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study as required by the IIJA. Its purpose is to evaluate the restoration and addition of discontinued and new long-distance passenger services, as well as the upgrading of tri-weekly long-distance services (the
Sunset Limited and the
Cardinal) to daily operation. The criteria for either restoring or creating new long-distance routes are that they connect large and small communities as part of a "regional rail network", provide economic and social well-being for rural areas, provide "enhanced connectivity" for the existing long-distance passenger trains, and reflect the support and engagement of the locals and region for restored long-distance passenger service. These criteria include the
Floridian, among other trains. The study will take place through 2023, and will engage with stakeholders, the rail companies, and communities as it "evaluates how to better connect people with long-distance rail services". A new Chicago–Miami train, also called , began service in November 2024. It is a temporary merger of the and and operates via Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Washington D.C. rather than the previous
Floridian routing. == References ==