Soon, you’ll be able to take the slow and scenic route from Illinois to Florida. Amtrak has announced plans to roll out a new round-trip route between Chicago and Miami this fall. Called the Floridian line, it will combine the Capitol Limited and Silver Star lines and will begin service on November 10.
Rail riders will be able to disembark at any of 44 stations along the route, including such major cities as Cleveland, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; Richmond, Virginia; Raleigh, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and Orlando, Florida.
If you plan on doing the entire journey, you’ll have plenty of time to get some work done, read a good book or two, or watch some movies and TV shows—the Amtrak journey between Chicago and Miami is 48 hours and 19 minutes.
Passengers traveling in the Floridian’s coach class will be seated in reclining window or aisle seats with large picture windows for watching the landscape roll by.
For those keen on a little more privacy and better sleep, Amtrak offers two first-class private room options: roomettes and bedrooms. The roomettes are outfitted with two reclining seats that transform into bunk beds at night and include access to a shared shower room. The bedrooms feature an en suite bathroom and shower and more space to move around. Both types of private rooms have a dedicated attendant who will provide turndown service and assist with meals and luggage.
Passengers staying in a roomette or bedroom will also be entitled to complimentary chef-prepared meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (available in the dining car or served in the room) as part of the included “Traditional Dining Program,” which is also offered to a select number of coach class guests for an additional fee. Dinner entrées are served with one complimentary alcoholic beverage, salad, and rolls, and might include menu items such as oven-roasted salmon with brown rice, edamame, carrots, and lobster sauce or an Angus beef flat-iron steak with mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, and a port wine sauce.
The new route is not a permanent one. Amtrak is offering it while the train company is completing its East River Tunnel Rehabilitation Project in New York. The project will close one of the two tunnel tubes at a time, to repair damage caused by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and update the tunnel’s infrastructure. Typically, the Silver Star train runs between New York City and Miami by way of Newark, New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Wilmington, Delaware; and Baltimore, Maryland, before reaching Washington, D.C. By combining these two lines, Amtrak hopes to minimize disruptions while also offering service across the eastern half of the country. In a press release, Amtrak said it expects the work to be completed by 2027.
Tickets for the Floridian service are currently bookable on Amtrak’s website. Coach seats start at $110 one-way and at $734 each way for private rooms.
The new route announcement comes alongside news that Amtrak fares and trip suggestions have been integrated into Google Search. Now when travelers search for U.S. airline fares on Google Flights, they’ll also be given suggestions for train rides, provided there’s an Amtrak station in both the departure and arrival cities.
