SunRail Near Lake Nona: Stations, Fares & How to Use It

Central Florida’s commuter train stops about 6 miles west of Medical City. Here is when that is close enough.

By David Myers, Broker Associate · NonaOrlandoProperties.com · Last updated September 2026

SunRail is a weekday commuter train running about 61 miles from DeLand to Poinciana with 17 stations. It has no station in Lake Nona. The nearest station is Meadow Woods, about 6 miles in a straight line west of Nemours Children’s Hospital. LYNX FastLink 418 connects Medical City to Meadow Woods by bus. Fares start at $2 within one county. The proposed Sunshine Corridor would extend SunRail to Orlando International Airport, but it is still in study and has no construction date.

Every few months a buyer asks me whether the house they like is “near the train.” In Lake Nona the honest answer is that nothing here is near the train. SunRail runs north–south along the old CSX line through Meadow Woods, Pine Castle and downtown Orlando, and Lake Nona sits east of all of it, closer to the airport than to the tracks.

That does not make SunRail useless from here. It makes it a park-and-ride tool with a specific set of good uses: weekday trips downtown, Winter Park without the I-4 parking fight, Amtrak connections, and a surprisingly workable commute for people who live along the line and work in Medical City. This guide covers what SunRail is, how to reach it from Lake Nona, what it costs, and what the airport extension would and would not change.

What is SunRail?

SunRail is Greater Orlando’s commuter rail line: one route, 17 stations and about 61 miles of track from DeLand in Volusia County to Poinciana in Osceola County.

Service started on May 1, 2014, with the downtown and Seminole County stations. The southern extension through Sand Lake Road, Meadow Woods, Tupperware, Kissimmee and Poinciana opened on July 30, 2018, and the northern extension to DeLand opened in August 2024. The line serves four counties: Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola.

It is a commuter railroad, not a subway. Trains run on a timetable, roughly every 30 minutes at peak and less often midday, and the stations are spaced miles apart. The Florida Department of Transportation has run SunRail since it opened; ownership is moving to the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission, the local body made up of the four counties and the City of Orlando, with the transfer expected by the end of 2027.

Is there a SunRail station in Lake Nona?

No. The closest station is Meadow Woods, about 6 miles in a straight line west of Nemours Children’s Hospital, and road distance from most Lake Nona neighborhoods is longer.

Sand Lake Road station, the next stop north at 8030 South Orange Avenue, is about 7.7 miles in a straight line from Medical City and has the larger lot, with 429 spaces. Meadow Woods is the closer and easier choice for most of Lake Nona. From the eastern neighborhoods along Narcoossee Road, add several more miles to either one.

That geography is the whole story of SunRail in Lake Nona. The train was built on an existing freight corridor that runs through older parts of south Orange County. Lake Nona grew up to the east, around SR-417 and the airport, after that corridor was already set. For the roads and highways that actually carry Lake Nona traffic, see the Lake Nona roads and transportation hub and our guide to commuting from Lake Nona to downtown, MCO and the major employment centers.

How do you get from Lake Nona to SunRail without a car?

Take LYNX FastLink 418, which runs between Medical City, the Meadow Woods SunRail station and The Florida Mall, Monday through Saturday.

Since the LYNX service change of April 26, 2026, the 418 loops through Lake Nona on Lake Nona Boulevard, Medical City Drive, Laureate Boulevard and Veterans Way, and its Lake Nona end of line is Nemours Children’s Hospital. That puts stops within reach of Medical City employers and the western edge of Laureate Park. It does not reach Lake Nona Town Center, the Narcoossee Road neighborhoods or the communities south of the Beachline. On the published timetable the 418 runs about once an hour, with no Sunday or holiday service. Check the current LYNX schedule before you plan around it.

A SunRail ticket works as a free LYNX transfer at or near a SunRail station in the same county, and LYNX transfers can be exchanged for a one-zone SunRail ticket at the station vending machines. FastLink 407 is the other option: it links Medical City to Orlando International Airport and the Kissimmee Intermodal Station, which is also a SunRail stop.

For shorter trips inside Lake Nona, the autonomous and on-demand shuttles are covered in our post on Move Nona and the future of local transit.

When does SunRail run, and what does it cost?

SunRail runs weekdays only, from early morning until the last southbound train reaches Poinciana at 11:38 p.m., and a one-way ride costs $2 within one county plus $1 for each county line you cross.

The late trains are new. On December 1, 2025, SunRail added a northbound departure from Poinciana at 8:45 p.m. and a southbound departure from DeLand at 9:55 p.m. Before that, an evening downtown meant watching the clock. There is still no regular Saturday or Sunday service. The commission has priced it — roughly $22.7 million a year to operate Saturdays only and about $26.3 million for both days, before any new locomotives and cab cars — and has not funded it. Weekend trains have run only for special events.

Fares are simple for Lake Nona residents because Meadow Woods, Sand Lake Road and every downtown Orlando station sit in Orange County. A one-way trip from Meadow Woods to Church Street, LYNX Central or Winter Park is the base $2. Riding north into Seminole County adds $1; riding all the way to DeLand in Volusia County adds $2. Buy through the SunRail mobile app or the ticket machines, and tap the ticket at the platform validator before boarding.

How can Lake Nona residents actually use SunRail?

SunRail works best from Lake Nona as a weekday park-and-ride for trips where downtown or Winter Park parking is the real problem, and as a daily commute for people who live along the line and work in Medical City.

Weekday events downtown are the strongest case. Drive to Meadow Woods, ride to Church Street or LYNX Central, and skip event parking entirely. With the last southbound train now leaving downtown after 10 p.m., a weeknight game or concert is realistic in a way it was not before December 2025. For what is downtown, see downtown Orlando from Lake Nona.

Winter Park is the second. The Winter Park station is on Morse Boulevard at the edge of Park Avenue, and the fare from Meadow Woods is the same $2.

Amtrak is the third. The Orlando Health/Amtrak, Winter Park, Kissimmee and DeLand stations are all shared with Amtrak, so SunRail can get you to a long-distance train without leaving a car at the Amtrak lot for a week.

The reverse commute is the one most people miss. Nurses, researchers and staff who live in Kissimmee, Poinciana, Sanford or DeBary can ride SunRail to Meadow Woods and take the 418 to Nemours and the rest of Medical City, or come from Kissimmee on FastLink 407. For a Lake Nona landlord, that is a real point in favor of a rental close to the 418 stops.

The airport is not a use case. Lake Nona already sits next to Orlando International, and routing through Sand Lake Road to get there would be a detour. If you are going to South Florida, Brightline from the airport station is the rail option that matters here.

Will SunRail ever reach Lake Nona?

Not under any plan published so far: the proposed Sunshine Corridor would bring SunRail to Orlando International Airport and then west toward the Convention Center, but no published plan includes a Lake Nona station.

The Sunshine Corridor would extend SunRail from the existing line to Orlando International Airport, then west to the Orange County Convention Center, South International Drive and potentially Disney Springs, with transfers to Brightline. The Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission voted unanimously on April 24, 2025, to advance it to a Project Development and Environment study led by FDOT, expected to run from 2025 into 2027. The program has been estimated at well over $4 billion, and the City of Orlando has set aside $100 million toward SunRail expansion.

A study is not a shovel. Nothing gets built until the study finishes, the route is fixed and federal and local money is committed. If the airport segment is built, Lake Nona residents would gain something useful: a train from the airport to downtown and Winter Park. That is a nice-to-have for this community, not a reason to pay more for a house today.

SunRail from Lake Nona: pros and cons

What the Neighbors Know

Lake Nona was planned around roads and the airport, not rail, and it shows. Residents who use SunRail tend to use it for the same few things: a weekday game downtown, a Winter Park afternoon, a train to Amtrak. Almost nobody here rides it to work, because almost nobody here works along the line — Medical City, the airport and Lake Nona itself are the employment centers. The people who do ride SunRail every day to Lake Nona are the ones coming in from Kissimmee and points north to work at the hospitals. If you are moving here and want rail in your weekly routine, pick a neighborhood on the west side, close to the Landstar and Boggy Creek side of the community, and keep your expectations at park-and-ride.

Official sources

• SunRail — schedules, fares, service alerts and the mobile ticket app
• SunRail Meadow Woods station — station details and connections
• LYNX routes and schedules — current FastLink 418 and 407 timetables
• FDOT Sunshine Corridor project page — study status for the airport extension

Weighing a Lake Nona home against your commute? Call/Text David Myers at 407.801.3286 or use the contact form.