Need a convenient airport near railroad station.

[the_traveler]

Other semi convenient airports to train stations are SLC and Portland, Maine. Both are within a few miles of the station. Soon Denver will have rail from Union Station to the airport.

Although not (at first) Amtrak, at Miami you can get a shuttle to the TRI Rail station and take it to either Hollywood, Ft Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach or West Palm Beach. Amtrak uses the same platform at those stops.

 

[jis]

SLC is a ride on the Green Line LRT to SLC Airport.

 

[chakk]

SLC is a ride on the Green Line LRT to SLC Airport.

But is the LRT still running when the CZ arrives SLC?

 

[FreeskierInVT]

Another possibility I didn't originally think about is Burlington, VT. If you got an early flight into BTV (Burlington International Airport), the Essex Junction train station (ESX) is a short bus or cab ride away to catch the 9:27am southbound Vermonter to New York or Washington.

Alternately, you could fly out of BTV from the northbound Vermonter, arriving ESX at 8:17pm. The northbound train isn't as scenic this time of year because it travels through Vermont after sunset.

 

[jis]

SLC is a ride on the Green Line LRT to SLC Airport.

But is the LRT still running when the CZ arrives SLC?

Oh probably not. But there are other very useful trains that arrive at SLC too.
And as one AU member has been planning, you can actually get a Front Runner train at Provo connecting with the CZ at least in one direction and use that to get to SLC at a time when LRT operates out of there too.

 

[SubwayNut]

In Salt Lake City It's not TRAX (Light Rail) down to Provo, but FrontRunner, the Monday through Saturday only Commuter Rail.

In Provo the FrontRunner Station is about a block south and on the opposite side of the tracks from the unstaffed Amtrak Platform. The 11:30pm departure of the westbound Zephyr is perfect for flying in and leaving that night.

Slightly OT: Next month I'm going on a Ski Trip to Alta and Squal Valley that will be entirely car and taxicab free. Fly into SLC and take the Light Rail in (excited not to be taking a bus like last year!). We'll finish our day skiing at Alta, take the Ski Bus down into Salt Lake City, go out to dinner and then (hopefully it will be ON Time) take the California Zephyr to Truckee overnight in a Roomette, and take the TART down to Squal Valley (where were spending a few more days) and if everything on time spend the next afternoon skiing as well! We'll finish the trip on the 5:40pm AmBus to Sacramento (I looked into Greyhound for this but its last bus is earlier), flying back to JFK on a JetBlue on a Red Eye that very night! (There will be an unused segment to Lodi the next morning).

I considered boarding in Provo but since there isn't a proper station and having no where to wait if the Zephyr is really late just seemed completely unappealing. Also when we booked SLC to TRU was low-bucket for the Roomette but not PRO to TRU so it would have cost much more. I would totally get off in Provo and take FrontRunner back north if we were doing the reverse since it would be a great way to get a little extra sleep! Since the Zephyr is scheduled to arrive at 4:35am and the first morning FrontRunner departure on weekdays is 4:50am!!!