Silver Meteor

	Silver Meteor
	; The Silver Meteor passes through Elizabeth, New Jersey bound for the Southeast.
Info
Type	Inter-city rail
System	Amtrak
Termini	New York, NY to Miami, FL via Charleston, SC
Operation
Opened	May 1, 1971
Owner	Amtrak, CSX (track)
Operator(s)	Amtrak
Technical
Line length	1389-mile (2235 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm)
Route map
	; Silver Meteor route map

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Amtrak Silver Meteor route^{[note 1]}

Legend

Distance

Station

0

New York City (subway)

New York/New Jersey border

North River Tunnels

10 mi (16 km)

Newark (PATH)

58 mi (93 km)

Trenton (River Line)

New Jersey/Pennsylvania border

91 mi (146 km)

Philadelphia (SEPTA)

Pennsylvania/Delaware border

116 mi (187 km)

Wilmington

Delaware/Maryland border

185 mi (298 km)

Baltimore (Light Rail)

Maryland/District of Columbia border

225 mi (362 km)

Washington, DC (METRO)

District of Columbia/Virginia border

234 mi (377 km)

Alexandria

334 mi (538 km)

Richmond

362 mi (583 km)

Petersburg

Virginia/North Carolina border

460 mi (740 km)

Rocky Mount

550 mi (885 km)

Fayetteville

North Carolina/South Carolina border

633 mi (1,019 km)

672 mi (1,081 km)

728 mi (1,172 km)

782 mi (1,259 km)

South Carolina/Georgia border

829 mi (1,334 km)

Savannah

881 mi (1,418 km)

Jesup

Georgia/Florida border

977 mi (1,572 km)

1,035 mi (1,666 km)

1,087 mi (1,749 km)

1,119 mi (1,801 km)

1,124 mi (1,809 km)

1,142 mi (1,838 km)

1,187 mi (1,910 km)

1,221 mi (1,965 km)

1,324 mi (2,131 km)

1,342 mi (2,160 km)

1,353 mi (2,177 km)

1,367 mi (2,200 km)

1,375 mi (2,213 km)

1,389 mi (2,235 km)

^ "Silver Meteor Schedule" (PDF). Amtrak. 2007-10-29. http://www.amtrak.com/timetable/oct07/T04.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.

Inside the Silver Meteor train

The Silver Meteor is a 1389-mile (2235 km) passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Silver Service brand, running from New York City south to Miami, Florida via the Northeast Corridor to Washington, DC, then via Richmond, Virginia, Fayetteville, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida and Orlando, Florida.

The Silver Meteor shares much of its track with the Silver Star, which runs further west through North Carolina and South Carolina and detours to serve Tampa, Florida. The Palmetto uses the same tracks as the Silver Meteor for its whole length, terminating in Savannah, Georgia.

[edit] History

The Silver Meteor was originally a train of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL), placed in service on February 2, 1939.^[1] The train was operated between New York, NY, and Washington, DC, by the Pennsylvania Railroad under a haulage agreement. Between Washington and Richmond, it used the tracks of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, jointly owned by the SAL and five other railroads for the use of all. From Richmond south the SAL's own trackage was used, running via Raleigh, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida and Ocala, Florida. Until the late 1960s, the Silver Meteor split at Wildwood, Florida, with one section continuing to Miami, Florida and the other serving St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Venice on Florida's west coast.

The SAL merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1967, and on May 28, 1968 the Silver Meteor began serving only Miami (the similarly-routed Silver Star then served only St. Petersburg). Amtrak continued to operate the Silver Meteor when it took over operations on May 1, 1971; on November 14 the numbers 83 (southbound) and 84 (northbound) were assigned.

From December 17, 1971 to April 15, 1972 and September 10, 1972 to April 27, 1973, the Silver Meteor bypassed Jacksonville, running over the track between the Georgia state line and Baldwin, Florida. Between June 11 and September 10, 1972, the Silver Meteor was extended to Boston and called the Meteor. From June 11 to December 15, 1972, a separate section to St. Petersburg was added.

On September 30, 1979 the Silver Meteor was rerouted between Savannah and Jacksonville over the former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad route, due to the abandonment of the old SAL route. On January 31, 1984, the Silver Meteor's Florida west coast terminus was cut back from St. Petersburg to Tampa , thus ending almost 100 years of rail passenger service to St. Petersburg. By October 26, 1986, the Silver Meteor had shifted to the old ACL route north of Savannah, as the abandonment of the SAL route north of Raleigh affected only the Silver Star. On June 11, 1988 the tracks between Coleman and Auburndale, Florida were abandoned, shifting the Miami section west to Lakeland.

By the end of 1988, the numbers assigned were 87 and 88 (to Tampa) and 97 and 98 (to Miami). The Tampa trips were later dropped, and 97 and 98 are still used.

The best timing for Amtrak's Silver Meteor between Miami and New York City was 27 hours in 2008 whereas SAL's first edition took only 25 hours in 1939, almost 70 years ago. Late trains routinely add even more hours to today's schedules.