SunRail
SunRail: a commuter train that most visitors will never need
Central Florida has a 61-mile commuter railway running through the middle of it. It is clean, cheap and pleasant, it serves 17 stations across four counties, and it goes almost nowhere a tourist is trying to reach. Here is what it is genuinely good for.
At a glance
- Fare
- One zone, plus $1 per county boundary crossed
- $2.00
- Best trip
- Downtown Orlando to Winter Park, both ends walkable
- ~15 min
- Runs
- Weekdays only, no regular weekend service
- 05:00–23:00
- Does not serve
- The airport, Disney, Universal, International Drive
- —
What SunRail is
SunRail is Central Florida's commuter rail line, running north to south from DeLand in Volusia County through Seminole and Orange counties to Poinciana in Osceola County. It was built for commuters heading into downtown Orlando and the medical district, and the schedule reflects that: weekday peaks, no weekend service, and stations positioned along an old freight corridor rather than near the attractions.
Weekday ridership runs around 5,600 passengers a day, with about 1.3 million rides in 2025. That is a modest system by national standards, and it means trains are rarely crowded and stations are rarely confusing.
All 17 stations, north to south
| Volusia County | DeLand/Amtrak, DeBary |
|---|---|
| Seminole County | Sanford, Lake Mary, Longwood, Altamonte Springs |
| Orange County | Maitland, Winter Park/Amtrak, AdventHealth, LYNX Central, Church Street, Orlando Health/Amtrak, Sand Lake Road, Meadow Woods |
| Osceola County | Tupperware, Kissimmee/Amtrak, Poinciana |
The DeLand extension opened in August 2024, adding the northern end of the line. Three stations share platforms with Amtrak, which makes SunRail a useful last leg for anyone arriving by long-distance train.
- Winter ParkPark Avenue, restaurants, Morse Museum
- AdventHealthHospital campus
- LYNX CentralTransfer to every Lynx bus route
- Church StreetDowntown Orlando, Kia Center
Fares
Zone-based and simple. $2.00 within one zone, plus $1.00 for each county boundary you cross. A ride from Winter Park to Church Street is a $2 trip. DeLand to Poinciana, crossing the whole system, is at the top of the range. Reduced fares apply for seniors, students and riders with disabilities.
Days and hours
Weekdays only, excluding holidays, approximately 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., with about 20 trips in each direction. Service is built around commute peaks, so midday headways are long. Check the timetable rather than turning up and hoping.
Weekends
No regular weekend service. This is the single most common SunRail planning mistake visitors make. Saturday operation has been trialled as a specially funded add-on, but a Saturday train is not part of the standard schedule. If your plan depends on one, verify it on the SunRail site first.
The one trip visitors should use it for
Downtown Orlando to Winter Park, or the reverse. It is a short ride, it costs $2, and it connects two of the few places in Central Florida where you can park a car once and then walk for the rest of the day. Winter Park station opens onto Park Avenue with its shops, the Morse Museum's Tiffany collection and a dense cluster of good restaurants. Church Street puts you in downtown Orlando near the Kia Center.
If you are in town for a Magic game, a downtown conference or a Winter Park dinner, and your hotel is near either end, SunRail beats parking and beats rideshare on cost. That is the honest extent of its usefulness to a visitor.
The airport question
People keep expecting SunRail to serve MCO because it obviously should. The proposed Sunshine Corridor would connect the line toward the airport and the Convention Center area; a $6 million study was approved in April 2025, and total project cost estimates run past $4 billion with completion speculated around 2031 if funding materialises. Treat it as a plan, not a schedule.
Until then, the practical connection is Lynx Link 311 from MCO to the Sand Lake Road SunRail station. It works, and almost nobody does it, because by the time you have made that transfer a rideshare has already delivered you.
Before you travel
Fares, schedules and pickup locations in Central Florida change without much notice. Everything here was checked on September 15, 2026. Confirm anything that matters to your trip with the operator before you rely on it. Found something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.
Common questions
Fares are zone based. A trip within a single zone is $2.00, and each additional county you cross adds $1.00. In practice most trips fall between $2 and $5. Reduced fares are available for seniors, students and riders with disabilities.
Not as regular service. SunRail operates on weekdays, excluding holidays, roughly 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., with about 20 trips in each direction. Occasional Saturday service has been run as a funded special, but you cannot plan a weekend around it. Check the SunRail site before assuming a Saturday train exists.
No. There is no SunRail station at MCO. The nearest station is Sand Lake Road, which Lynx Link 311 connects to from the airport. A direct airport link is part of the proposed Sunshine Corridor project, which received study funding in 2025 but is a multi-billion-dollar programme with a timeline into the 2030s.
No. SunRail runs north to south along the old CSX corridor, well east of the attractions. No station serves Disney, Universal, SeaWorld or International Drive. It is a commuter line through the region's historic towns and downtown, not a tourist shuttle.
For one specific trip, yes: getting between downtown Orlando and Winter Park. The ride is short, the fare is $2, and both ends are genuinely walkable. Winter Park station puts you on Park Avenue. Beyond that pairing, most visitor itineraries never touch a SunRail station.
Through the SunRail ticketing system, either at station vending machines or the mobile app. Validate before boarding. There is no conductor selling tickets on the train, and riding without a valid fare carries a penalty.
Who wrote this
Evan Ross is publisher of this site and a working Orlando transport operator. He is a part-owner of Lenox Transport, which is why he knows how this city moves and why you should discount his ranking of car services. He lives in Winter Park and has been moving people around this city commercially since 2024. More about the site and its conflicts of interest.