Currently under construction, a new passenger platform at Tampa Union Station will allow for faster and easier boarding of passengers and luggage handling. A new platform being built will be even with single level equipment and negate the need for passengers to climb up and down steps on and off the trains.

Currently, a lift device must be used to load passengers who use a wheel chair, scooter, or walker, for mobility, or are unable to climb steps because of their physical handicaps. The lift devices are only capable of handling about 3 or 4 passengers at a time, and this can be a problem in delaying trains when several passengers need to use the device, mostly senior citizens and those with physical handicaps.

A new platform should help in cutting the layover time and allow train attendants to open all doors for prompt loading of passengers. Baggage handlers will be able to easily slide luggage from the platform surface into the baggage cars without having to lift them up into trains. It would be the first of its kind for Amtrak in the state of Florida.