MIAMI | Infrastructure and Transit News

„ The new completion date is anticipated for summer 2026 (compared to the original fall 2023). The new budget is estimated at $840 million (it was initially $802 million).

The contract began in October 2018, with a four-year deadline to the contractor for completion.

The deadline was permitted to be extended for special events, holidays, or weather delays.

Special events include events at the Arsht Center, American Airlines Arena, Bayfront Park and Marlins Park. Other events such as the Super Bowl, Art Basel, the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, the International Boat Show, and the Miami Marathon are also allowed to push back the deadline.

In addition to a Signature Bridge with spider or fountain-like arches, the project also includes rebuilding and expanding the highway in the area, including a double-deck highway.“

3 Likes

3 Likes
2 Likes
1 Like

New park-and-ride will open in Miramar next week.

1 Like

What an outrage - the new Amtrak station was supposed to open in 2016!

It’s stayed unopened so long that it’s already ADA-incompatible.

This truly is, to quote Tom Brokaw, the “fleecing of America.”

2 Likes

Tri-Rail currently terminates at Miami airport. Later this year they might finally open the branch to downtown Miami.

Brightline trains (to West Palm Beach and Orlando later this year) and Tri-Rail trains will share the Miami Central station.

3 Likes
5 Likes

Miami has rejiggered its bus network, and folks are not very happy about it.

Peres and others who oppose the program have detailed their concerns on the Miami Bus Riders Against the Better Bus Network page on Facebook. The group documented the first day of the rollout and the frustration and confusion that came along with it as riders dealt with the axing of routes they’ve taken for years. Anecdotes of peeved passengers yelling at transit ambassadors and bus operators were aplenty, with one report of a rider throwing a Better Bus pamphlet at a driver. One user proclaimed it was “absolute chaos” on the 2 line.

The bus drivers are being blamed for the transit operator’s decisions? I feel very bad for the bus driver.

At the same time, I understand that trying to live in Miami without a car is a most wretched existence, one that I wouldn’t even wish on my worst enemy.

Tri-Rail will not open its branch to downtown Miami in 2023.

Will it open in 2024? Only God knows, and I am not God.

UPDATE:

There will be a period lasting a few weeks when downtown Miami will only be served by shuttle trains to and from Hialeah. Only some time after that will we see direct Tri-Rail trains between downtown Miami and the counties of Broward and Palm Beach.

This is similar to how in early 2023 LIRR only ran shuttle trains between Jamaica and Grand Central Madison before starting full direct service from Grand Central to the counties of Nassau and Suffolk.

UPDATE 2:

The timetable for Tri-Rail’s first revenue trains to downtown Miami has been released. This will for now operate as a shuttle between MiamiCentral and “Metrorail Transfer” station in Hialeah.

source: https://twitter.com/Tri_Rail/status/1745169903248703797

3 Likes

Replying so you don’t have to edit anymore.l and can post new posts. Thanks for the updates.

6 Likes
2 Likes

Tri-Rail is sort of a bush-league rail system. What professional railroad would publish schedules that look like this? It’s sort of like they’re going out of their way to make it customer-unfriendly. Why not just have one schedule for inbound shuttle and another for outbound? And why not publish a schedule that shows connections between the shuttle and the main line to Mangonia Park? And why is one of the stations still called Metrorail Transfer when both shuttle terminals have transfers to Metrorail? Why not call that other station Hialeah Junction or something else that actually tells people where it is? The answer to all of these questions is that this is Florida, where stupidity rules the day.

source: Tri Rail | South Florida Regional Transportation Authority

3 Likes

Tri-Rail has now published schedules that show the two south termini (airport and MiamiCentral) on the same timetable. As you can see from the below, many weekday trains (especially early-morning northbound trains and evening southbound trains) do not have a connection to a downtown shuttle. The early-morning northbound trains that leave Hialeah before 6am are too early for Metrorail as well. The northbound part of the timetable should really have the downtown shuttle on top so that it aligns with the Miami-Dade part of the timetable.

Tri Rail | South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (tri-rail.com)

2 Likes

quote from press release (source: Tri Rail | South Florida Regional Transportation Authority)

The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) announces the introduction of a new Tri-Rail express train service, to start July 1, 2024. This addition will offer passengers a seamless one-seat ride to and from Downtown Miami, significantly reducing travel time between the West Palm Beach and MiamiCentral stations.

The express train will depart from the West Palm Beach Station at 6:30 a.m., with strategically limited stops at the Boca Raton Station, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport Station at Dania Beach, and the Metrorail Transfer Station, before arriving at MiamiCentral Station at 8:05 a.m. In the evening, the return express train will depart MiamiCentral at 5:35 p.m., providing commuters with a convenient and expedited journey home.

The new express trains will be a one-seat ride, not requiring passengers to disembark to connect to shuttle trains that go in and out of MiamiCentral Station. The express train’s schedule also cuts the time to get between West Palm Beach and Miami by more than 30 minutes.

2 Likes

They’re not building any new rail in Miami, but at least they’re renaming the existing stations.

1 Like
1 Like