Poinciana station

Poinciana
SunRail commuter rail
SunRail train stopped at Poinciana station
General information
Location	5025 South Rail Avenue Kissimmee, Florida
Coordinates	28°15′32″N 81°29′04″W
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	: 306, NeighborLink 604,[1] Citrus Connection 19X
Construction
Parking	254 spaces
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	Osceola
History
Opened	September 16, 1974[2]
Closed	December 8, 1975[3]
Rebuilt	July 30, 2018
Services
Preceding station SunRail Following station Terminus SunRail Kissimmee towards DeLand
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Lakeland toward St. Petersburg or Miami Floridian Orlando toward Chicago Lakeland toward St. Petersburg Champion Orlando toward New York
Location

SunRail Poinciana station is a train station in the community of Poinciana, Florida. It is the southern terminus of SunRail, the commuter rail service of Greater Orlando. The station opened on July 30, 2018.^[4] The site was briefly used by Amtrak from 1974 to 1975.

History

Poinciana station around 1975

In the mid-1970s, the site was planned as the southern terminus for Amtrak's inaugural auto ferry service called AutoTrak connecting Florida to Indianapolis Union Station, in competition with the Auto-Train Corporation's Auto-Train service. Amtrak initially built a complex with a 1,600 square foot modular building, a parking lot and two spur-lines with eventual plans for a 7,000 square foot facility. The initial complex opened on September 16, 1974, with the simultaneous arrival of the Floridian and the Champion trains. It was envisioned to be the official stop for tourists bound for Walt Disney World. The AutoTrak service never came to life, however, and the station was used for just over a year as a stop for the Champion and the Floridian until December 12, 1975, when those trains began stopping at Kissimmee instead.^[2][3][5][6] Sometime in the 1980s, the station building was demolished, the spur-lines were removed and the parking lot along with the access road into the site were abandoned and eventually overgrew with vegetation over the years. The site sat vacant until construction of the Poinciana SunRail station began in early 2016.

References

1. "SunRail Connections" (PDF). Lynx. April 24, 2022. Retrieved May 19, 2022.
2. "Amtrak Service Scheduled". Lakeland Ledger. September 14, 1974.
3. "Amtrak Schedule Changes Dec 14". Waycross Journal-Herald. December 8, 1975.
4. Spear, Kevin (July 30, 2018). "First SunRail trains from Osceola County please commuters". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
5. "Amtrak Will Build Million Dollar Passenger Facility At Poinciana". Lakeland Ledger. January 17, 1974.
6. "USA Rail Guide". Retrieved October 27, 2015.

External links

• SunRail's Station Development Sketchbook