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Silver Palm

The Silver Palm on its inaugural run in 1982. An EMD F40PHR leads an Amfleet consist.
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Florida
First service	November 21, 1982
Last service	April 30, 1985
Former operator(s)	Amtrak
Route
Termini	Miami, Florida Tampa, Florida
Stops	8
Distance travelled	255 miles (410 km)
Average journey time	5 hours
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	895, 896
On-board services
Class(es)	Unreserved coach
Catering facilities	On-board cafe
Technical
Rolling stock	Amfleet coaches
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Track owner(s)	Seaboard System
Route map Legend 0 mi Miami 14 mi 23 km Hollywood 21 mi 34 km Fort Lauderdale 35 mi 56 km Deerfield Beach 46 mi 74 km Delray Beach 63 mi 101 km West Palm Beach 166 mi 267 km Sebring 207 mi 333 km Winter Haven 225 mi 362 km Lakeland 255 mi 410 km Tampa This diagram: view talk edit

The Silver Palm was a daily passenger train route operated by Amtrak between Miami and Tampa in the U.S. state of Florida. Service began in 1982 and ended in 1985.

From 1996 to 2002, Amtrak reused the Silver Palm name to rebrand its New York–Miami Palmetto route under the Silver Service banner.

History

As early as 1974, Florida considered funding a Miami–Orlando service using Turboliners, with expansion statewide possible. Amtrak ultimately introduced the first Silver Palm as a single round trip service between Miami and Tampa, Florida, on November 21, 1982. The train was subsidized by the Florida Department of Transportation as a 403(b) service. The train operated over the tracks of the Seaboard System Railroad between Miami and Tampa via Auburndale. The northbound train departed Miami in the morning and returned from Tampa in the afternoon. Travel time was approximately five hours in each direction. A bus connection was provided between Winter Haven and Orlando. It followed the traditional SAL mainline through Wildwood and Ocala in north-central Florida.

The Silver Palm was the first intrastate train to use the then-new Amfleet II coaches. The initial consist was two coaches and a cafe car.

During its service, train crew were required to manually throw switches for the train to operate between divisions. Amtrak had worked to remove speed restrictions on the line and considered adding more stops in an effort to improve service and increase the train's profitability. The state also tried to help boost ridership following a publicity tour by then Lieutenant Governor Wayne Mixson in August 1984, in part to build a base of riders for proposed high-speed service in the state. After a two-year trial the Florida Department of Transportation recommended ending subsidies for the Silver Palm. State law required that state-sponsored services maintain a farebox ratio of 60% to continue funding.

FDOT announced on October 20, 1984, that the Silver Palm's ratio was 45.3%. The service was scheduled to be discontinued on November 20, 1984. The Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers sued the state, arguing that the Department of Transportation had calculated the operating ratio incorrectly, and won at the district court level. This decision was overturned on appeal by the Florida First District Court of Appeal on March 28, 1985. The Silver Palm was discontinued on April 30, 1985. It was estimated to have cost $4 million over the course of its run.

Revived name

The second Silver Palm was a long-distance passenger train between New York, New York, and Miami, Florida. This was a revival of the Palmetto, which Amtrak had discontinued on April 1, 1995. Service began on November 10, 1996. For a period in the mid-1990s, as in the 1996-1997 season, it was Amtrak's only train passing through Ocala area north-central Florida section in 1996. Amtrak restored the Palmetto name on May 1, 2002, after the train lost sleeping and dining car service.

Proposed restoration

Currently, only the Silver Star provides daily Amtrak service between Miami and Tampa. A proposal called Amtrak Connects US outlines 15-year expansion plans for state-supported intercity rail corridors, with one of the routes being between Miami and Tampa. It would follow the same route as the Silver Palm, with stops at all the same stations as well as an additional stop at the Okeechobee station.

See also

• Palmetto
• Silver Service

References

1. ^ "Profit Loss May Run Silver Palm Off Track". The Palm Beach Post. West Palm Beach, FL. August 11, 1984. p. 174 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Ingles, J. David (July 1974). "Amtrak South". Trains. Vol. 34, no. 9. pp. 32–34.
3. Moffett, Dan (November 21, 1982). "Train Starts Daily Run Across State". Palm Beach Post. West Palm Beach, FL. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Klein, Gil (November 16, 1982). "State betting Amtrak's Silver Palm will blossom". Tampa Tribune. Tampa, FL. p. 39 – via Newspapers.com.
5. ^ Romano, Michael (August 24, 1984). "Officials ride the rails for Amtrak's Silver Palm". South Florida Sun Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale, FL. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Brokaw, Rick (June 26, 1983). "Silver Palm makes the trip". Tampa Tribune. Tampa, FL. p. 182 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Pardon me boy - Is that the Silver Palm for Tampa?". Miami News. October 16, 1982. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
8. Final Environmental Impact Statement: Florida Power & Light Company Martin Coal Gasification/Combined Cycle Project. Atlanta, GA: United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region IV. May 1991. p. D-25 – via Google Books.
9. "Amtrak to Consider Okeechobee Flag Stop". The Palm Beach Post. West Palm Beach, FL. July 15, 1984. p. 42 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Mixson: More passengers needed or wave good-bye to Silver Palm". Tampa Tribune. Tampa, FL. August 24, 1984. p. 32 – via Newspapers.com.
11. ^ Klein, Gil (October 20, 1984). "Cutoff of state subsidy means end of Tampa-to-Miami rail service". Tampa Tribune. Tampa, FL. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
12. Kinneberg, Rob (December 7, 1984). "Hopes Dim for Okeechobee Amtrak Stop". Palm Beach Post. West Palm Beach, FL. p. 167 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "State to cut Silver Palm funding". Lakeland Ledger. October 20, 1984. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
14. Rojas, Helen (October 20, 1984). "Amtrak Silver Palm connecting Miami and Tampa discontinued". Fort Lauderdale News. Fort Lauderdale, FL. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
15. Wolff, Christine (November 13, 1984). "Ruling puts Silver Palm on track to keep running". Miami News. Miami, FL. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
16. "Silver Palm Hits End Of The Line In Courts". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. March 29, 1985. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
17. Marmor, Jon (May 1, 1985). "Silver Palm Comes to End Of the Line". Palm Beach Post. West Palm Beach, FL – via Newspapers.com.
18. Allen, Kevin (April 30, 1985). "End of the line: Amtrak's 'Silver Palm' makes its final run". Fort Lauderdale News. Fort Lauderdale, FL. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
19. "Doubts are flying about high-speed rail system". South Florida Sun Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale, FL. September 17, 1989. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
20. Amtrak Timetable, November 1996 p. 29 http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19961110n&item=0029
21. "Amtrak Tampa to Miami Expansion Plans". Amtrak Connects US. Retrieved March 28, 2024.

External links

• 1984 timetable

• Former Amtrak routes
• Passenger rail transportation in Florida
• Railway services introduced in 1982
• Railway services discontinued in 1985