Amtrak The Ticket For Many In Tampa

Amtrak is suddenly hot, and nowhere is hotter right now than Tampa.

Florida's 14.6 percent gain in passenger traffic from October 2007 through September 2008 is almost a third more than the national increase, and the Tampa station is leading the way. The city leads Amtrak's passenger growth in Florida with a whopping 33.5 percent gain in ridership in the last fiscal year.

Last year, slightly more than 100,000 passengers took the train at the Tampa station. Amtrak's 18 stations in Florida tallied 936,000 passengers during the same time frame; nationally, Amtrak totaled 28.7 million passengers.

Higher gasoline prices have pushed more travelers to Amtrak in recent months, and Tampa is drawing more passengers to and from Miami, its leading destination.

Amtrak's cheapest one-way fare between Tampa and Miami is $29. To New York, Tampa's seventh-busiest Amtrak destination behind six Florida cities, the best fare is $94.

With President-elect Barack Obama a longtime Amtrak supporter and expectations that transportation will become a key focus in the nation's stimulus plan, the outlook for the federally supported railroad may be the rosiest since its inception in 1971.

"We urge you to allocate at least $20 billion of total stimulus spending to projects that will improve and expand passenger train service throughout the country," National Association of Railroad Passengers officials wrote in a Dec. 31 letter to the Obama transition team.

"The current dip in oil prices ... does not eliminate the need to prepare America for the time when oil once again becomes scarce and expensive."

In a recent interview with The Tampa Tribune, association Chief Executive Ross Capon said restoration of Amtrak service between Orlando and Los Angeles should be a top priority, as well as resurrecting plans to expand Florida service to other destinations.

"The capacity of the existing New York-Florida trains could be more than doubled if only the cars existed," said Jim Langston, an Amtrak advocate from Tampa.

Annabella Ellis of Norwich, England, one of 60 southbound passengers and 51 arrivals at Tampa on Monday on the New York-to-Miami Silver Star, said she's accustomed to greater frequency in Great Britain.

"But Amtrak appears to be more comfortable," she said.