Tampa Union Station

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Oreius

OBS Chief
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
698
I am riding 91 through Florida. We stopped at Tampa. The number of people that got off is amazing—like over 200 people got off!! And about another 150 people boarded!! Is this normal for this station, considering it only sees two trains a day (91 and 92)?
 
Oreius said:
I am riding 91 through Florida. We stopped at Tampa. The number of people that got off is amazing—like over 200 people got off!! And about another 150 people boarded!! Is this normal for this station, considering it only sees two trains a day (91 and 92)?
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Tampa is the third busiest station in Florida behind Sanford (Auto Train) and Orlando. It is almost twice as busy as Miami!
 
Interesting, because there weren’t that many people that boarded in Tampa when I boarded 92 there in March 2019…

Makes me wonder if Amtrak should run “Sunshine Service” train that only serves Florida cities….
 
Oreius said:
Makes me wonder if Amtrak should run “Sunshine Service” train that only serves Florida cities….
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Suspect that maybe Brightline service has improved the ability of riders to use Amtrak one way and Brightline the other?
For Sunshine service IMO a minimum of 2 round trips would be needed.
1. First RT - Leave MIA no later than 0700 arrive TPA about 12:20 in time to make any cruise departure. go on to Sanford arr 15:00 lv 16:00 lv TPA 18:30 to pick up cruise passengers arr MIA 23:30.
2. 2nd RT - Lv TPA 07:00 arr MIA 13:00 to make all cruise ships Palm Beach south. Lv MIA 17:00 to pick up cruise ships passengeers ar TPA at 23:00. Now it could continue to Sanford for overnight however departure from Sanford a god awfull 04:30
 
Numbers that I was looking at for stating Tampa's -position in Florida Amtrak service is from 2022 and earlier, specifically focusing on pre-COVID numbers from 2019. So it could not possibly reflect anything caused by Brightline.

To give a somewhat informed projection of what will happen with Tampa Union Station we need to take into consideration what is slated to happen in Tampa relative to rail service.

There are two Corridor Id funded programs to explore intra-Florida service (1) Jacksonville - Orlando - Miami and (2) Miami - Orlando - Tampa Corridors

The Miami - Orlando - Tampa Corridor is really Brightline in disguise.

Jacksonville - Orlando - Miami is to essentially cover intra-Florida service along the Amtrak route, and in course of the study it is more than likely that Tampa will get added to it.

It is this latter that should add at least two services per day and maybe more, and will add to the usage of Tampa Union Station. Brightline will not by itself add anything to Tampa Union Station since the Brightline terminal will be in the Ybor City area, though within walking distance of Tampa Union Station.

Additional usage at Tampa Union Station if the Tampa Area Commuter Service ideas, there are at least three corridors that have been talked about, come to fruition. They will all be anchored in Tampa Union Station.
 
west point said:
Will never happen but if Tampa US could have an elevated 2nd level platform(s) built for Brightline that would really unite the station for the future. Much better than a separate station at Ybor city. Walk Ybor to US maybe a stretch for oldsters.
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What about the streetcar that serves Ybor City to downtown Tampa?
 
west point said:
Will never happen but if Tampa US could have an elevated 2nd level platform(s) built for Brightline that would really unite the station for the future. Much better than a separate station at Ybor city. Walk Ybor to US maybe a stretch for oldsters.
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1. I suspect that the number of people in any event who are going to be connecting between Brightline and Amtrak is pretty miniscule, whatever their age.
2. Brightline as, to date, shown no interest in facilitating connections to Amtrak.
3. In fact, except for their planning to share regional/commuter service, Brightline's idea of connectivity to other transit modes seems to be the ability to book an Uber ride along with your train ticket. So I suppose if the walk between the stations is too far, a Brighline passenger can take a taxi or Uber between the stations.
 
west point said:
Will never happen but if Tampa US could have an elevated 2nd level platform(s) built for Brightline that would really unite the station for the future. Much better than a separate station at Ybor city. Walk Ybor to US maybe a stretch for oldsters.
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The actual location slated for the Brightline Station is in an area just to the east of where the Trolley Line crosses the CSX lead to TUS. So considering the length of the platform and such, the South end of the station will be just adjacent to TUS. Hence the walk is not going to be all that long if a walkway is built to connect the two. The main entrance to the Brightline Station will be at the Ybor City end though as far as I can tell.
 
railiner said:
Guess

I’m old too(😉)…I recall that, but didn’t they continue on beyond Tampa to St. Petersburg?🙂
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Yes. They did. It took 1 hour and 40 mins to get there while the Ambus today takes 40 mins. That was mainly because the rail route was roundabout with poor quality tracks to boot. That is what led to its demise. There is a vague proposal floating around to start a Commuter Service along that discontinued route.

Actually when the Champion ran under Amtrak, the whole train ran to Tampa and then on to Clearwater and St. Pete., not half the train, and it was pretty long. At that time the Meteor ran only to Miami, and the Star had a section that ran to Tampa and St. Pete, with the split at JAX. When the Champpion was discontinued then I believe the Meteor got a St. Pete section splitting at Auburndale. I am not sure exactly when St. Pete was discontinued and everything was cut back to Tampa.

Incidentally, going to St. Pete involved a reverse move of some sort to get onto the Clearwater Subdivision. At present I don't recall the details, and possibly some of the trackage used is no more too. Maybe some old timers remember.
 
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MARC Rider said:
3. In fact, except for their planning to share regional/commuter service, Brightline's idea of connectivity to other transit modes seems to be the ability to book an Uber ride along with your train ticket.
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Which they have done away with. The website now tells passengers to contact their "partner" Uber directly. Premium passengers are given a pretty measly $10 credit towards an Uber ride, and that's per reservation, not per person. It looks like the entire last-mile Brightline+ offering has pretty much been dismantled, except for pay-per-ride airport shuttles and shuttles to sports events & concerts. There's no mention of the former Aventura mall shuttle.
jis said:
Hence the walk is not going to be all that long if a walkway is built to connect the two. The main entrance to the Brightline Station will be at the Ybor City end though as far as I can tell.
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But Brightline does not permit platform access except through their station house, so the proximity of the far end of the platforms doesn't help.
 
joelkfla said:
Which they have done away with. The website now tells passengers to contact their "partner" Uber directly. Premium passengers are given a pretty measly $10 credit towards an Uber ride, and that's per reservation, not per person. It looks like the entire last-mile Brightline+ offering has pretty much been dismantled, except for pay-per-ride airport shuttles and shuttles to sports events & concerts. There's no mention of the former Aventura mall shuttle.

But Brightline does not permit platform access except through their station house, so the proximity of the far end of the platforms doesn't help.
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As I implied, unless a walkway from somewhere that makes sense at the Brightline station is built it will not be a pleasant walk. No matter which way you look at it, a head-house to head-house walk will be quite long since the head-houses are/will be at the wrong ends of the respective stations. Minimally it will involve building a usable sidewalk along the east side of Nuccio Parkway, to get the shortest possible path between the two.
 
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1. Many years ago visited the St Petersburg station with its long platform(s?) while still an Amtrak maintenance station. What happened to that facility?
2. At one time a wild idea was to construct a RR bridge directly from TPA to STP. Now when Brightline gets to TPA wonder if anyone will propose the bridge again to be used by both Amtrak and Brightline to allow service to StPete?
 
west point said:
1. Many years ago visited the St Petersburg station with its long platform(s?) while still an Amtrak maintenance station. What happened to that facility?
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It is mostly a large parking lot for the Tropicana Field apparently.
west point said:
2. At one time a wild idea was to construct a RR bridge directly from TPA to STP. Now when Brightline gets to TPA wonder if anyone will propose the bridge again to be used by both Amtrak and Brightline to allow service to StPete?
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The only proposal that might fly for Brightline is an extension to Tampa International Airport. I don't think anyone will build a bridge across Tampa Bay unless Tampa-St. Pete decides to build such for a local transit system.
 
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Amtrak always used the 1963 ACL station northwest of downtown. The station building is still there along with some remnants of the platform. The pre-1963 station was downtown. On the rail bridge over 38th Ave N there's still an ancient PASSENGER TERMINAL NEXT LEFT sign.

Looking at some old maps it does look like there was a connector along Adamo Dr. that would have connected to the route to St. Pete.
 
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Metra Electric Rider said:
I can't find a reference right now, but was there, at one time, another causeway or bridge for rail across the bay between Tampa & St. Pete?
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One way I know of to find out is to research the USGS archives for old topographical maps of that area. It has maps that date back over 100 years. Might take a while to learn how to navigate this: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#4/39.98/-100.06 Some areas have topo maps dating as early as 1888.
 
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