Amtrak in Miami (Hialeah, Miami Intermodal Center/Airport)

I remember that Hertz outlet.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2023 10:20 am Sgt. Smith, there was once a Hertz outlet at Orlando station, but that was far as station auto rental outlets in Florida went

I think however, that outlet has closed.

Yes, I was recently there and the Hertz desk is now gone. A few years ago I rented from Hertz because they claimed to have cars available at the Orlando station. When we arrived, there was a manned Hertz desk there but there were no cars there. They boarded the small crowd into a couple of vans and brought everyone to a nearby hotel which had several car rental companies. Although that was the case there just was one desk to check-in since apparently the same people owned all of the different rental franchises. It took a while for everyone to complete their transactions and get their cars. It wasn't quick or convenient but it worked. I don't know how the procedure is done now if at all.

BTW - The Amtrak Orlando station still has overnight parking spaces so you can actually leave your car there when you take the train. No time limit is posted.

I’ll be honest I’m not sure what Silver ridership is like all the way to Miami

According to Amtrak's 2019 Florida Fact Sheet, Miami accounted for 62,497 of the 905,074 total boardings and alightings in Florida for 2019, placing it behind Sanford, Orlando, Tampa, and (barely) Jacksonville.

Interesting. So it seems there’s room for growth.

Re: the discussion earlier in the thread on the old Miami SAL station that then served as the Miami Amtrak station in the 70s—I think it was here I'd posted a pic of the only remaining portion of the station, the front entrance, which was left standing as a lonely sentinel at the corner of NW 7th Avenue and NW 22nd Street, on the grounds of what is now a county health facility. Here's another pic of it.



Guess what the county had torn down over the past year?

I've no idea why, and there was no notice of it that I saw.

So Dade County had to get rid of the last vestige, Mr. James W? Possibly vandalism?

Oh well, here's a photo from happier days:

Whttps://www.flickr.com/photos/southbeachcars/8895231128

I used it once during '67 arriving on the Meteor and returning on the Florida Special. I remember the open air ticket windows. Guess you have to go overseas to see those again (Bolzano IT for one).

If you ask me, it looked more like an auto dealership than it did a train station.

Just caught this article on Trains, related to the two most immediate posts: https://www.trains.com/ctr/railroads/pa ... ough-time/

Amtrak Miami services through time

Amtrak Miami services have been dominated by trains from New York City. This included, at various times, the Silver Meteor, Silver Palm, and Silver Star. Additionally, at times, the Magic City has been served by its own section of the Floridian from Chicago and an extension of the Sunset Limited.

Amtrak’s current Miami station is located at 8303 NW 37th Ave. in the Hialeah neighborhood northwest of downtown. It replaced a former Seaboard Air Line station located in the Allapattah neighborhood closer to downtown. The new station opened in 1978 at a cost of $5.7 million and is built to a standard design shared with the former Midway Station serving Minneapolis-St. Paul. The station sits inside a balloon loop track for turning equipment, giving visitors a concrete example that this is Amtrak’s southernmost outpost.
...
Amtrak inherited the joint Seaboard Coast Line-Louisville & Nashville-Penn Central South Wind upon startup in May 1971. With its first new timetable in November 1971, Amtrak changed the schedule to a one-day, two-night operation and renamed the train the Floridian. Traditionally a Tampa train as the South Wind, the Floridian saw the operation of a Miami section until the train’s discontinuance in October 1979.
...

So, from the photo within the Classic Trains article located by Sgt. Smith, Amtrak made the side entrance on the North Side of the structure the main entrance.

The one thing that struck me about the article is that they moved the station to this location from a SAL station in the Allapattah neighborhood "closer to downtown". And that's the real issue with Hialeah. It's in the middle of nowhere in an industrial area, unbefitting of how one should arrive in Miami. TriRail wants to get to MCS, and Amtrak should want to get to the airport. Hialeah is almost 9 miles from MCS, probably about 8 from Miami International.

If train lenght is the problem at the central station, they could shortturn1/2 the consists at Tampa/Orlando,same day turnaround would increase capacity as well

I guess one could say that the location of the former SAL station (7th Ave 22nd St NW) has "sort of stumbled" into a "newly trendy" Miami community - Wynwood, although one would have to get from one side of the 95 to the other. At least this location did not tie up Downtown traffic to the extent that King Henry did with his "First and First" location (never saw that facility as it was gone by Jan '67).

Isn't it meant to reach the Airport this year? Miami Central would seem a good idea too, once the works for Tri-Rail are done also. But frequency of 2tpd, maybe it doesn't matter. The Airport is useful in itself and for onward connections.

Earlier in the topic, I noted:

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Tue May 09, 2023 5:26 am I guess one could say that the location of the former SAL station (7th Ave 22nd St NW) has "sort of stumbled" into a "newly trendy" Miami community - Wynwood, although one would have to get from one side of the 95 to the other

A rail unrelated article in The Times better illustrates what difficulties would be confronted had Amtrak chosen to stay at the SAL station (OK; maybe redevelop the structure) and residents of the now-trendy Wynwood neighborhood would face if attempting to get from that station to their home on foot.