Orlando Health/Amtrak station

Orlando, FL
Amtrak Inter-city rail
SunRail commuter rail
Front entrance to the 1926-built Orlando Station. Originally used by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, now by Amtrak.
Location 1400 Sligh Boulevard
Orlando, Florida
Coordinates 28°31′33″N 81°22′53″W / 28.52590°N 81.38130°W / 28.52590; -81.38130Coordinates: 28°31′33″N 81°22′53″W / 28.52590°N 81.38130°W / 28.52590; -81.38130
Owned by City of Orlando
Platforms 1 side platform, 1 island platform
Tracks 3
Connections Thruway Motorcoach
: #40[1]
Construction
Structure type At-grade
Parking Yes
Bicycle facilities Yes (SunRail)
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Station code ORL
Fare zone Orange
History
Opened 1926
Traffic
Passengers (2013) 160,442[2] Decrease 7% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station
toward Miami
Silver Meteor
toward New York
Silver Star
TerminusSunset Limited
service suspended
toward Los Angeles
SunRail
toward Poinciana
SunRail
toward DeBary
  Former services  
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Pine Castle
Main Line

Orlando Health/Amtrak station, also known as Orlando station, is a train station in Orlando, Florida. It is served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system of the United States, and SunRail, the commuter rail service of Greater Orlando, as well as local and intercity buses. It serves Amtrak's Silver Meteor and Silver Star lines. Built in 1926, the historic station is located approximately one mile south of Downtown Orlando near the campus of Orlando Health. Serving 160,442 passengers at last measure in 2013, The station is Amtrak's fifth busiest in the Southeastern United States; it is the second busiest Amtrak station in Florida, behind the Sanford station of the Auto Train.

History

Part of the restored interior.

The station was built in 1926 by M. A. Griffith and W. T. Hadlow for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The building was designed in the Spanish Mission style. After Atlantic Coast merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1967, the station was used the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad.[3]

Service in peak years

Prior to the decline in operations in the 1950s and 1960s several long distance trains operated by the ACL ran through the station.

  • Champion (West Coast) New York – Sarasota
  • Havana Special (with link in Miami to steamship to Havana, Cuba) – New York – Miami

Shuttle sections that fed off these trains in Jacksonville, to points south. These connecting trains originated in either Chicago or Cincinnati:

Recent improvements

In 2014, the City of Orlando started a project to build a second platform for use by the new SunRail commuter rail service. Unlike most SunRail stations, which feature shelters consisting of white aluminum poles supporting sloped green roofs, the station's canopies feature arches that resemble the mission-style architecture of the adjacent historic station's canopy. It also includes ticket vending machines, ticket validators, emergency call boxes, drinking fountains, separate platforms designed for passengers in wheelchairs. The station was officially named Orlando Health/Amtrak Station due to its proximity to the main Orlando Health hospital campus, Orlando Regional Medical Center, the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies.[4] The revamped station opened on May 1, 2014.[5]

In August 2014, the City of Orlando announced a $2.1 million station restoration project of the historic building. The project, which was the first major renovation to the facility since 1990, included fixing cracks and leaks in the stucco walls and tile roof, pavement repairs, restroom upgrades, repainting of the building exterior, restoration of the original 1926 wood doors and windows, replacement and relocation of the air conditioning system to the roof of the building (which allowed the original entrance on the side of the building to be reopened), and the installation of a wheelchair ramp from the parking lot to the new station entrance.[6] Work officially commenced on September 24, 2014 and was completed on June 29, 2015.[7][8]

The station is also serves the Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach bus and Lynx bus route 40. It is also the proposed terminus on the planned Orange Blossom Express commuter rail project out of Lake County.

Connections

References

  1. ↑ "SunRail Connections".
  2. ↑ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2013, State of Florida" (PDF). Amtrak. December 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2014. External link in |publisher= (help)
  3. ↑ "Orlando, FL (ORL)" (2014). www.greatamericanstations.com. Accessed April 14, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Orlando Health/Amtrak" (2015). www.sunrail.com. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  5. ↑ Carchidi, Jim (Apr 9, 2014) "Pre-dawn party: SunRail opens the Orlando Health station". Orlando Business Journal. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  6. ↑ Tracy, Dan (August 22, 2014). "Downtown Orlando Amtrak station to get $2.1 million face-lift" Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Amtrak Station Restoration Begins" (September 24, 2014). www.cityoforlando.net. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Renovation of Orlando's historic Amtrak station complete" (June 29, 2015). www.orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved September 8, 2015.

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