Auto Train

Auto Train

The Auto Train in Guinea, Virginia in March 2024
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Locale	Eastern Seaboard
First service	October 30, 1983 (1983-10-30)
Current operator(s)	Amtrak
Former operator(s)	Auto-Train Corporation
Annual ridership	283,646 (FY23) 1.7%[a][1]
Website	amtrak.com/autotrain
Route
Termini	Lorton, Virginia Sanford, Florida
Distance travelled	855 miles (1,376 km)
Average journey time	17 hours[2]
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	52, 53
On-board services
Class(es)	Coach Class Sleeper Service
Disabled access	Train lower level, all stations
Sleeping arrangements	Roomette (2 beds) Deluxe Bedroom (2 beds) Accessible Bedroom (2 beds) Family Bedroom (4 beds)
Auto-rack arrangements	340 vehicle capacity
Catering facilities	Dining car, Café
Observation facilities	Lounge car
Baggage facilities	Overhead racks
Technical
Rolling stock	GE Genesis Superliner
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed	50.3 mph (81.0 km/h) (avg.)[3] 70 mph (110 km/h) (top)
Track owner(s)	CSX, CFRC
Route map Legend Dist. Station 0 mi 0 km Lorton VA   NC   SC Florence (service stop) SC GA across Savannah River GA FL across St. Marys River 855 mi 1376 km Sanford This diagram: view talk edit

Auto Train is an 855-mile (1,376 km) scheduled daily train service for passengers and their automobiles operated by Amtrak between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.), and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando). Auto Train is the only motorail service in the United States.^[4]

Passengers ride in coach seats or private sleeping car rooms while their vehicles are carried in enclosed automobile-carrying freight cars called autoracks. The train can carry up to 340 vehicles. The train also includes lounge cars and dining cars. Auto Train allows its passengers to avoid driving Interstate 95 in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida while bringing their own vehicles with them. It has the highest revenue of any train in Amtrak's Long Distance Service Line.

The service operates as train number 52 northbound and number 53 southbound. The train operates non-stop between its Virginia and Florida terminals, except for a brief stop in Florence, South Carolina, for servicing and a crew change of the engineers and conductors.

Amtrak's Auto Train is the successor to an earlier, similarly named service operated by the privately-owned Auto-Train Corporation in the 1970s.

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