| Silver Service | |
|---|---|
.jpg) TheSilver Meteor passingOdenton station in 2014 | |
| Overview | |
| Locale | United States East Coast |
| Transit type | Inter-city rail |
| Number of lines | 2 |
| Website | AmtrakSilver Service |
| Operation | |
| Operator(s) | Amtrak |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
Silver Service was abrand applied byAmtrak to itslong-distance trains running along theUnited States East Coast betweenNew York City andMiami, Florida. It comprised two trains – theSilver Meteor andSilver Star.[1] Since November 2024, theSilver Star has been temporarily combined with theCapitol Limited to form theFloridian, a Chicago–Washington–Miami route. TheSilver Service brand was subsequently quietly discontinued for an indefinite period at the same time.
The two services follow the same general route between New York City and Miami, but diverge betweenSelma, North Carolina, andSavannah, Georgia, as well as atAuburndale, Florida. TheSilver Meteor takes a more direct, coastal route on theCSX A-Line between Selma and Savannah viaFayetteville, North Carolina,Florence, South Carolina, andCharleston, South Carolina, while theSilver Star travels inland over theCSX S-Line to serve the Carolinas' two state capitals,Raleigh, North Carolina, andColumbia, South Carolina. At Auburndale, Florida, theSilver Star continues west to serviceLakeland andTampa, while theSilver Meteor turns south to go directly to Miami.
Amtrak'sPalmetto operates over theSilver Meteor's route between New York City and Savannah. However, from 1996 to 2002, the train was known as theSilver Palm and ran all the way south to Miami, though over a different routing between Jacksonville and Auburndale. ThePalmetto name was reverted in 2002, and service was eventually truncated back to Savannah in 2004.
The twoSilver Service trains were inherited from theSeaboard Coast Line Railroad, which originally inherited them from theSeaboard Air Line Railroad, when Amtrak took over most intercity rail service in 1971. They are the sole remnants of numerous long-distance trains that ran between the Northeast and Florida for most of the 20th century. Amtrak originally applied theFlorida Fleet brand to theSilver Meteor,Silver Star, and the now-discontinuedChampion, another train inherited from SCL, in the 1970s.[2]
Prior to 1979, theSilver Meteor travelled between Savannah andJacksonville, Florida, via the Seaboard Coast Line's ex-SALEverett Subdivision with a stop atThalmann, Georgia, for the nearby city ofBrunswick, Georgia. The train was rerouted via SCL's ex-ACL mainline viaJesup, Georgia, in late 1979, the same route as theSilver Star, after SCL expressed desire to abandon the Everett Subdivision. Similarly, theSilver Star ran betweenPetersburg, Virginia, and Raleigh via the ex-SALNorlina Subdivision, with a stop atHenderson, North Carolina, until 1985. WhenCSX Transportation, corporate successor of Seaboard Coast Line, abandoned the line between Petersburg andNorlina, North Carolina, in 1985, theSilver Star was rerouted via Selma en route to Raleigh. Currently, under theSoutheast High Speed Rail Corridor plan, the Norlina Subdivision will be rebuilt between Petersburg and Norlina, with both theSilver Star and Amtrak'sCharlotte–New YorkCarolinian being rerouted over the line, with the stop at Henderson being reinstated, as well as a new stop being added atLa Crosse, Virginia.
Starting in 1982, Amtrak operated a service called theSilver Palm between Miami and Tampa.[3] This was later discontinued in 1985 due to low ridership. From 1996 to 2002, thePalmetto was renamedSilver Palm, and operated as a third train in theSilver Service brand between New York and Miami. However, it turned west at Jacksonville and ran viaWaldo,Ocala,Wildwood,Dade City,Tampa andLakeland, before rejoining theSilver Star andSilver Meteor inAuburndale.[4] Amtrak reinstated the Palmetto name on May 1, 2002, after eliminating the sleeper and dining cars, but it still provided service to Florida. On November 1, 2004, the Palmetto was shortened to operate only between New York and Savannah, reverting to its daytime schedule as it had before 1994. Since then, theSilver Star began its out-and-back detour route to serve Lakeland and Tampa.
In response to planned rehabilitation work in theEast River Tunnels, theSilver Star was temporarily combined with theCapitol Limited on November 10, 2024, forming a Chicago–Washington–Miami through service called theFloridian.[5]
