Southbound Magic game-night service returns

Beginning with the Orlando Magic regular-season opener Oct. 23 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, FDOT is again running a special late-night SunRail train that leaves from the southbound Church Street Station. 

FDOT has decided to fully fund this additional train, as it enhances service for its southern customers who embraced this expanded service last season. The FDOT funding only covers the 2019-2020 regular season.

The later train service will coincide with all Orlando Magic regular season 2019-2020 home games at the Amway Center played Monday through Friday. If passengers—attending the game or staying downtown late—wish to take the southbound train home those nights, they should make their way to the southbound platform at Church Street Station, where the train will stage and leave for points south at 10:30 p.m. Regular fares apply.

The northbound route, where the last train normally leaves the northern Church Street Station platform at 10:30 p.m., will stay the same.

When you gotta go, you gotta go!

Have you ever been waiting 30 minutes or more for the SunRail train, and suddenly you have an urge to use the bathroom?

You are not alone.

We’ve all been there.

One of the biggest complaints many riders express is that SunRail did not include restrooms in their stations (though there is a restroom on the train).

That said, we understand and support that SunRail decision because public restrooms are costly to maintain and become a breeding ground for illegal and undesirable activities.

But that explanation doesn’t help you answer the call of nature. So, we’ve prepared this cheat sheet to help you find relief at some stations.

Winter Park: Restroom inside the Amtrak station.

Lynx Central Station: Restroom inside the Lynx bus station

Orlando Health/Amtrak station: Restroom inside the Amtrak station

Sand Lake Road: (This is the mother lode) There are public restrooms inside the nearby McDonald’s, Burger King and Denny’s restaurants, and across the street at the Wawa convenience store.

Kissimmee station: There are restrooms a block from the station at the Hart Memorial Public Library (you can see the library from the northbound platform), down the platform at the Amtrak station, and a couple of blocks away at Lakefront Park.

Poinciana station: Restrooms across the street at the Wawa convenience store and at the Home Depot.

If you know of restrooms at any other SunRail stations, please share that information with us.

See you on The Rail, not at the restroom.

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SunRail schedule change coming

SunRail is making some minor schedule changes effective October 14, and the schedule may be viewed here. This update does not affect all trains and, in most instances, only moves the departure time from one to five minutes later. This minor adjustment will alleviate traffic congestion by reducing the instances in which trains traveling north and south arrive at the Longwood station at the same time, tying up traffic signals.

There is one change of 30 minutes, affecting one train – P338, which travels northbound in the evening. After conducting surveys with riders and meeting with major hospitals, it was concluded that this adjustment will create more opportunities for shift workers to take the train to and from work.

Current bus schedules are not affected by this change and other connections such as the Kissimmee Connector and Sanford Trolley will agree with the update as well.

Important news for SunRail riders

SunRail wants riders to know that some very important changes are happening today. Here is what they said:

"SunRail has a new way to capture data on riders not tapping on or off, or riding beyond their purchased zone fare. Beginning Monday, Sept. 30, riders demonstrating these types of misuse will have their SunCards hot-listed.

Riders with a hot-listed card will receive a red “X” at the validator and on the conductor’s handheld validator device. To keep the red X from making you an ex-rider, customers must then contact the call center: (Toll Free) 1-855-RAIL-411 (724-5411). Hours: Mon - Fri, 5:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.

"SunRail’s goal is for all riders to do the right thing; SunRail’s fare policy says a rider must have fare to board the train. And right from the policy, “Unless the ticket or pass has been validated, the fare media is not considered valid for travel.” Another positive outcome in tapping on and off, and promoting good rider habits, is it allows the ability to collect more accurate ridership data. This benefits the four counties in the system. And, managing your SunCard account is easier than ever with the SunRail app, where riders can even set up a recurring feature to automatically reload their card.

"On the front line, the ambassador team, and conductors are there to assist, and will explain that riders must tap on AND off each time they board and alight the train and must purchase the correct number of fare zones. This education effort is in anticipation of enabling max fare in mid-November, which means those who don’t tap on and off each time could end up paying full fare; $5 one way.

"Also, this week, and as a reminder to customers, the SunRail text alert service at 31,996 is coming to an end Wednesday, Oct. 2. Future alerts will be sent through the free SunRail app, as well as on Twitter and at SunRail.com.

"Customers are reminded to update their app and allow push notifications. The move to the service alerts on the app offers a place where customers can view train schedules, connectivity options and catch up on the latest SunRail news and information all in one location. Learn more at www.sunrail.com."