Amtrak opened the station on January 4, 1974, replacing Jacksonville Union Terminal (now
Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center) downtown. The station saw eight trains daily upon opening, four in each direction. Those trains were the
Silver Meteor,
Silver Star,
Champion, and
Floridian, but also very briefly saw the
Vacationer. The
Floridian and
Champion were discontinued in the 1979 budget cuts. In 1993, the
Sunset Limited was extended east from its
New Orleans terminus all the way to
Miami, and added a stop at Jacksonville. Then in 1996, the station's services were further expanded to include the newly reinstated
Silver Palm running from New York to Tampa. On November 1, 2004, however, the
Silver Palm, now renamed to
Palmetto, had its terminus cut back to
Savannah, Georgia. Later, in 2005, the
Sunset Limited was suspended east of New Orleans in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina. This left the station with just two trains in each direction a day: the
Silver Meteor and
Silver Star. On November 10, 2024, the
Silver Star was merged with the as the
Floridian. ==References==