Miami to Atlanta takes 3 trains and big layover?

[me_little_me]

8 hour layover in Raleigh and 6 1/2 in Charlotte (in the middle of the night) with two sleepers connected by a daytime train. That's the only choice given.

I can't believe there is no connection using the Meteor. I also thought I remember you could change in Washington from a Silver to the Crescent.

 

[niemi24s]

Use multi-city for a single change of trains in WAS with a 4 hour layover.

 

[Alexandria VA Traveler]

Thin population density, and using roads geared towards freight, not people. Can only play with the cards you're dealt I suppose.

If you're time-sensitive, you should fly (2 hrs. vs. 44 hrs. one-way).

If you're price sensitive, you should fly ($59 vs. $175 one-way)

If you just really really like taking the train, then ride to Tampa or something. There are only certain routes that will be competitive in the South, and this ain't one of them.

 

[Guest]

Total travel time is likely longer going up to WAS from Atlanta but it can be done. Connection times aren't convenient and while Silver Meteor has a 4 hour approx layover its a lot longer trip than Silver Star. I could have mixed those two up but you get the idea.

Amtrak really isn't designed for a route like MIA to ATL based on track locations. Not sure if Amtrak had better connections or not. Probably best to take Amtrak from MIA to another destination closer to Atlanta on the same line then take a bus or taxi.

 

[Guest]

Miami Florida to Savannah Georgia on a four hour greyhound ride. Not too expensive and a lot quicker trip. That way you can use Amtrak part way. Or you can do miami to atlanta by greyhound. Check travel time and price differences.

 

[cassie225]

If I'm going anywhere in Ga. I get off in Atlanta,my hometown is a 3 hour drive from Atlanta. But to take Amtrak I would have to go to Washington then take train back to Jesup,Ga, then still have to drive a couple of hours.Have you checked Megabus?

 

[no retreat]

Yet another example of the disgrace that is amtrak. They talk on and on about how they have more destinations than any other transport option, but you can't get from one major city to another one nearby. That's asinine like you wouldn't believe. They should be ashamed. There is no way whatsoever I would ever--ever--do that trip on Amtrak. Never.

 

[neroden]

Passenger rail service expansion has been a state responsibility for decades now. Georgia has chosen to spend zero dollars and zero cents on it, so Atlanta has terrible service. Don't like it -- talk to the Georgia legislature.

Or the feds, if you want the feds to start funding rail service again. (Basically, federal funding of Amtrak only covers overhead.)

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

Simple solution: Amtrak's new Floridian Chicago to Miami via Evansville,IN, Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Macon, Tallahassee, and Orlando! Unfortunately, thanks to politicians and CSX freight railroad not happening in my lifetime.

 

[jis]

Simple solution: Amtrak's new Floridian Chicago to Miami via Evansville,IN, Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Macon, Tallahassee, and Orlando! Unfortunately, thanks to politicians and CSX freight railroad not happening in my lifetime.

Atlanta, Macon, Talahassee and thence to Miami, which would realistically be via Jacksonville, since the route via Ocala is not available for passenger service anymore. That would be one twisted silly routing IMHO, which will be slow and unsuccessful.

 

[xyzzy]

An all-CSX routing Chicago-Atlanta-Florida could not pass through Macon which CSX does not reach. It would have to be Atlanta-Manchester-Cordele-Waycross-Jacksonville or Atlanta-Augusta-Fairfax-Savannah-Jacksonville.

If you introduce the possibility of running over NS south of Chattanooga, there are more combinations -- but you'll find that NS is no more interested in a Chattanooga-Atlanta train than CSX is. The path of least resistance for Chicago-Florida remains the 1979 Floridian route via Birmingham and Montgomery although it would require major investment after 35 years. There is no easy answer, and that's why a train that would connect the nation's 3rd, 10th, and 11th largest CSAs is virtually unthinkable in the present.

That said, no route for Atlanta-Tallahassee is viable. Even in the peak years of passenger rail, there was no single train connecting those points.

 

[Palmetto]

Miami Florida to Savannah Georgia on a four hour greyhound ride. Not too expensive and a lot quicker trip. That way you can use Amtrak part way. Or you can do miami to atlanta by greyhound. Check travel time and price differences.

The fastest Greyhound schedule I could find is 10h45. Four hours would get you up to Orlando. Am I missing something?

 

[railbuck]

Miami Florida to Savannah Georgia on a four hour greyhound ride. Not too expensive and a lot quicker trip. That way you can use Amtrak part way. Or you can do miami to atlanta by greyhound. Check travel time and price differences.

The fastest Greyhound schedule I could find is 10h45. Four hours would get you up to Orlando. Am I missing something?

I would interpret this as "Miami Florida to Savannah Georgia [on Amtrak,] then a four hour greyhound ride."

 

[niemi24s]

Yet another example of the disgrace that is amtrak. They talk on and on about how they have more destinations than any other transport option, but you can't get from one major city to another one nearby. That's asinine like you wouldn't believe. They should be ashamed. There is no way whatsoever I would ever--ever--do that trip on Amtrak. Never.

Before expending too much energy on a snit over the MIA-ATL connection (shortest distance by rail is essentially twice the distance as the crow flies) think of all the other major cities that fall into this same category. If a major city is one having a population greater than, for instance, Miami's, there are a total of 43 according to Wikipedia. So Miami makes the total 44.

• Of those 44 major cities, there are Amtrak train stations in 36 of them. A mere 5 minutes poring over the Amtrak route guide map revealed 6 other pairs of major cities in which the rail connection is obviously at least twice as long as the crow flies. Oklahoma City - Kansas City is one obvious example. There are probably several more.

• Of the 8 remaining major cities, Mesa and Phoenix AZ form a close pair having no station at all leaving 6 other major cities with no rail service at all: Columbus OH; Nashville TN; Louisville KY; Long Beach CA; Virginia Beach VA; Colorado Springs CO.

So let's say there are at minimum of 13 major metropolitan areas that either lack Amtrak service or lack "convenient" (distance = 2 X crow's) Amtrak service. Now you've got something to really get worked up over!

Edit: Got bored & curious after supper and found 21 additional station pairs with track distances more than twice the crow flies bringing the total major cities with no service or "inconvenient" service from 13 to 34.

 

[jis]

Long Beach does have the Metro Blue Line, no? That is a perfectly legitimate rail service!

 

[me_little_me]

Unless it is a listed connection, I can't use points.

Greyhound and the airlines don't take them.

Points on the Silver Star are worth less.

I'd swear they used to list the WAS connection in Arrow.

 

[cassie225]

im just thankful we got Amtrak in NO and it gets me to NJ.And if Atlanta had it to Savannah,Waycross or Jacksonville that would be awesome.

 

[niemi24s]

Long Beach does have the Metro Blue Line, no? That is a perfectly legitimate rail service!

You're undoubtedly correct, but I just didn't feel like wasting time to ferret out connections between stations other than Amtrak railroad stations. And even though Long Beach is only about 13 miles from the Amtrak station in Anaheim, I didn't consider that sufficiently "convenient" in light of the sour tone of Post #7. Ditto for Norfolk and Virginia Beach VA which are only 10 miles apart. That might be more convenient but probably not convenient enough.

And quite frankly, the fact that AGR points cannot be used for that trip matters not to me. I never travel far or frequently enough to accumulate any. I'm about 5 hours by car away from the closest Amtrak station but I'll never whimper and snivel about it.

 

[jis]

The rail connection to Long Beach is from Los Angeles Union Station via Red and Blue Lines. Rail access to the LAX Airport is also via Green and Blue lines. I have actually used both connections.

Virginia Beach may some day get rail access when the Tide System is extended to there.

 

[niemi24s]

Too bad the OP's not going ATL to MIA - that shows up with a 5 hour layover in WAS. I think the fly in the ointment has to do with the connections in North Carolina, but I'm not sure what:

http://s129.photobucket.com/user/niemi24s/media/travel/3NCJunctions.jpg.html