page_title: Silver Star (Amtrak train)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Silver Star (Amtrak train) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A Roger Puta Photograph
context_page_description: The Silver Star is a 1,522-mile passenger train route in the Silver Service brand operated by Amtrak, running from New York City south to Miami, Florida via the Northeast Corridor to Washington, D.C., then via Richmond, Virginia; Raleigh, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Jacksonville, Florida; Orlando, Florida; and Tampa, Florida.
  The Silver Star shares much of its route with the Silver Meteor; however, the two trains diverge between Selma, North Carolina and Savannah, Georgia and between Kissimmee and Winter Haven, Florida. Between Selma and Savannah, the Silver Star takes an inland route to serve the Carolinas' state capitals of Raleigh and Columbia, while the Silver Meteor stays closer to the coast and services Florence and Charleston, South Carolina. Between Kissimmee and Winter Haven, the Meteor takes a direct route with no intermediate stops, while the Star takes a detour through Lakeland and Tampa. The two trains are the remnants of the numerous long-distance trains that operated between Florida and New York for most of the 20th century.
  During fiscal year 2019, the Silver Star carried nearly 389,995 passengers, an increase of 5.9% from FY2018.
context_section_description: The Star was originally a service of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, running from New York to Miami and later also St. Petersburg (beyond Tampa). It was inaugurated December 12, 1947, to replace the Advance Silver Meteor. In early years it was winter-only and did not appear in summer timetables.  By 1949, however, it was a year-round train. Its main Miami-bound route went through the interior of Florida, via Ocala and Winter Haven. In peak winter service in the mid-1950s it had a section that went to St. Petersburg via Tampa. Another section went to Port Boca Grande via Tampa. The Pennsylvania Railroad carried the train between New York and Washington, D. C. under a haulage agreement, similar to the arrangement with its sister train, the Silver Meteor. The agreement was maintained when the Pennsy was folded into Penn Central in 1968, a year after SAL merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad as the Seaboard Coast Line. Between Washington and Richmond, Virginia, the train operated on RF&P rails. Amtrak took over the train in 1971.
  With the exception of a brief period from 1994 to 1995 and from 1996 to 2004, when service to Tampa was provided by the Palmetto (known as the Silver Palm from 1996 to 2002), the Silver Star has served both Tampa and Miami during the Amtrak era. Originally, Amtrak operated the Silver Star with Tampa and Miami sections that split in Jacksonville, with the Tampa section continuing on the old Atlantic Coast Line route through Orlando, and the Miami section traveling through Ocala and Wildwood over most of what was the original Seaboard route to Miami. After November 1, 2004, the Silver Star resumed service to Tampa, and now travels intact all of the way, backing out of Tampa and retracing its route 40 miles (64 km) east to Auburndale, where it heads south to Miami or north to New York. The detour occurs at Lakeland; the train stops there to discharge passengers before going to Tampa and to receive passengers after it returns from Tampa.
  In the January 2011 issue of Trains magazine, this route was listed as one of five routes to be looked at by Amtrak in FY 2011 as the previous five routes (the Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle, California Zephyr, Capitol Limited, and Cardinal) were examined in FY 2010. With the discontinuation of the Silver Meteor's former Tampa section (a descendant of the Champion, a longtime rival of the Silver Star and Silver Meteor) in 1988, the Silver Star is now the only passenger train serving Tampa.
  On February 4, 2018, Silver Star train number 91 collided with a CSX Freight Train in Cayce, South Carolina, killing both the engineer and a conductor and injuring 116 more.
  Effective July 6, 2020, Amtrak has reduced the frequency of this train to three times per week as opposed to daily.  Southbound Silver Star trains depart New York Friday through Sunday, while Silver Meteor trains depart Monday through Thursday.  Similarly, northbound Silver Star trains depart Miami on Thursday through Saturday, while Silver Meteor trains depart Sunday through Wednesday.
caption: A Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad locomotive pulls the Silver Star at Alexandria, VA on March 23, 1969
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