VA: Amtrak will take you and your car to Virginia. Here’s a review of the ride.

ast November, one TikTok user documented their journey on Amtrak’s Auto Train service, which ships people and cars. The service is limited – going between one station in Virginia and another in Florida. I took the journey in June and experienced all the beauty and convenience the service has to offer.

When I accepted an offer for an internship at the Tampa Bay Times in January 2025, that TikTok came to mind. I needed a way to get myself — and my car — to Florida.

While I was up for a road trip, my dad doubted my ability to drive down from Virginia. That is how I ended up on an 18-hour journey from Lorton, VA, to Sanford, FL, spending the night in my seat while my vehicle rode along in a train car behind me.

Before I left my home in central Virginia, I packed Viera – my gray-blue 2008 Honda Civic – with everything I would need for 10 weeks in the Sunshine State. When we hit the road, she was loaded with stuffed animals, books and a rice cooker about as old as I am.

It wasn’t just me and my car, though. My mom decided to tag along with me for the journey, just to make sure nothing went wrong. We drove two hours to the station in Lorton.

When we got there, an Amtrak employee put a number on my car and gave me a brochure explaining how the process worked. I would need to give her my keys, then someone would drive Viera into one of the massive silver automobile train cars. In Sanford, my car would be driven out, I would take the keys back and we would be on our way.

Amtrak’s Auto Train service began in 1983, two years after the private Auto-Train Corporation stopped service. The original corporation was a private company, and by the end of its life it operated two Auto Train routes: Lorton- Sanford and Lorton-Louisville.

Back then, the service was popular. Today, the route is one of Amtrak’s three profitable operations out of 37, according to the Washington Post.

The Post attributes the Auto Train’s profitability and popularity to the section of road that the line replaces, the dreaded Interstate 95. People value skipping the traffic, especially snowbirds who take the Auto Train annually as they descend upon Florida to beat the Northern cold.

After I said goodbye to Viera, my mother and I waited in the station, a large glass domed building with a single room that included rows of seats and a check-in counter.

In an effort to stretch grant money to last an entire summer, I had opted for the coach seats instead of the comfier bedrooms and roomettes that Amtrak offers for the lengthy journey.

When I first looked at the Amtrak prices, one coach seat on this train went for about $100. It seemed fairly affordable, especially when compared to airfare. However, the sticker price on Amtrak’s website does not include the fee to actually ship your car — a fact I discovered only after budgeting for the trip.

In total, one coach seat cost me $117, and shipping my car one-way was $225, for a total of $342. While the price felt steep to me, it was actually cheaper than paying for a plane ticket and a separate car shipping company.

My mom and I ended up sitting in the upper compartment of the train. I got the window; she took the aisle. We snacked on plantain chips that we brought from home, taking in what would be our living room and bedroom for the next 18 hours.

There was a lot of legroom, which was wasted on my 5-foot-2 self. While the aisle between seat rows was carpeted, the walls were metallic. My mom and I bundled into the blankets we packed as the train pulled away from the station.

During the journey, I mainly listened to music but did get out of my seat to purchase dinner in the dining car. A few small booths surrounded another narrow, curving alley to the food counter, where I ordered a burger. It came microwaved in a small bag that I brought back to my seat. The bun was a strange texture and hard to bite into, but it was serviceable.

Along the journey the train stopped multiple times, as we had been told it would prior to boarding. This wasn’t to let passengers off, but rather a logistics move. Other trains needed the track, and we needed to stop for them to pass us. Most of these pauses were 20 minutes or less, but one in the night lasted for an hour or two.

Amtrak was created in the 1970s to semi-nationalize passenger rail. Private companies could focus on freight and shipping goods while Amtrak – a private corporation owned by the government – could take people from place to place.

Amtrak arrived on the U.S. transportation scene just as planes and cars were taking over. It lost an average of $500,000 per day during its first year.

Because Amtrak shares rails with private freight companies, trains are frequently delayed. Aging infrastructure has also caused delays and even accidents.

While President Biden’s administration seemed eager to reinvest in America’s passenger rail, the Trump administration’s record on rail has ranged from neutral to hostile. Since Trump took office, Amtrak has canceled some of its high-speed rail and city connecting projects.

Private corporations are now expanding American passenger rail. Brightline – a private rail service that connects Orlando and Miami, making stops in cities along the way – opened in 2023 and has seen steady ridership. They recently announced plans for a station connecting Orlando and Tampa.

Sleeping in the Amtrak seats wasn’t too different from falling asleep in an airplane. It was hard and uncomfortable, but doable. I slept for a few hours at a time until the train stops or a loud noise would jolt me awake.

When morning came, nothing much had changed except the scenery. Sometimes we rushed past epic rivers and lakes fenced in by trees coming into their summer greenery. On other occasions, my mom and I didn’t find much to look at in empty lumber fields and concrete parking lots.

Sanford, FL, with its palm trees and airy Amtrak station, was like a fairytale to me.

My first impression of the state was one of heat and humidity as my mom and I sat outside to wait for Viera.

The cars came out one by one, driven down massive ramps from the giant vehicle train cars. With the silver of the containers behind them, the trickle of cars moved like a rainbow, shining in the June sun.

Some passengers had paid for their cars to be the first ones out (a $125 upgrade), so my mom and I had to wait for a while. We saw a variety of vehicles, from muscle cars to minivans. It must have been 20 or 30 minutes before we finally saw Viera.

We jumped out of our seats and sprinted toward where the Honda had been parked. Without much confirmation as to whether the car was ours, I was in the driver’s seat and heading down the Florida highway.