On Saturday, January 13, the new service is launching as a transfer at Hialeah's Metrorail Transfer Station, where riders will take a shuttle train to the MiamiCentral station downtown. The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA), which oversees Tri-Rail, announced the expansion is part of a two-week "soft launch" with six trains going to and from MiamiCentral before service eventually ramps up to the full schedule of 26 weekday trains, 13 trains in and out of the downtown station.
"The day has finally arrived when the public can plan their direct trips in and out of downtown Miami onboard Tri-Rail trains," said Raquel Regalado, SFRTA governing board member and Miami-Dade County commissioner.
The Tri-Rail rollout offers a new downtown Miami railway option that transit advocates say was sorely needed.
Until now, commuters coming from Palm Beach and Broward counties and northernmost Miami-Dade communities had no direct, low-cost rail line to downtown. Many had to choose between I-95 gridlock or coughing up big bucks to ride the Brightline to get to work.
"This is a great cost-effective option for Miami-Dade residents and people coming into Miami," Tala Habash, spokesperson for local nonprofit Transit Alliance, tells New Times."The Brightline is fancy. It's shiny and a great experience, but it's also great to have an option for the everyday person who is relying on trains and this type of transit for their day-to-day commute."
The nine-mile extension, known as the Tri-Rail Downtown Miami Link, was expected to begin operating in 2017 out of the existing Brightline depot. But the highly-anticipated expansion, a $70 million, taxpayer-funded project, was delayed after issues were discovered involving the Brightline infrastructure, including a platform being too narrow for Tri-Rail trains to safely pass through, an elevated ramp that was too weak to handle the trains, and exposed rebar. An engineer also said cracks had formed on the platform.
The problems, which engineers identified in April 2021, were disclosed to the public and the Tri-Rail board seven months later in December, the Miami Herald reported. The construction issues and delays culminated in the resignation of SFRTA executive director Steven Abrams after the board members said they had been left in the dark about the construction and were concerned by the lack of urgency to address the problems.
The first phase of the Downtown Miami Train Schedule is here! We are soft launching this service, so trains will be added incrementally over the coming weeks.
— Tri-Rail (@Tri_Rail) January 10, 2024
Riders can plan their trips between 1/13 - 1/19 using the following Weekend and Weekday schedules. pic.twitter.com/7NmfWu1SCd
"We have worked through many challenges, which only makes the accomplishment of this major service enhancement for the public that much sweeter," Regalado said this week. "The SFRTA governing board was ready to elevate the sense of urgency to get this project completed this past year that ultimately helped get it to the finish line."
The new route will provide direct service to downtown, whereas the existing Hialeah Metrorail transfer makes nine stops from Northside to Overtown before reaching the downtown Government Center station.
Mark Merwitzer, policy manager for Transit Alliance, calls the new service "a huge improvement" to the area's transportation system.
"It also represents a massive turnaround for SFRTA from where it was a couple of years ago," he says. "We're hoping this new service is going to be just the beginning for Tri-Rail to serve as a critical commuter rail."
He tells New Times he is hoping Tri-Rail will expand to other parts of Miami-Dade, including Wynwood.
"Tri-Rail has been neglected for a very long time," Merwitzer adds. "The trains, the stations, and the service have not been in the best shape until recently. It's slowly turning around, and this new service to downtown is a brand opportunity for Tri-Rail. We're hoping going forward that Tri-Rail can present as a viable alternative to people who have to endure the I-95 traffic on a daily basis."
Though Brightline recently banned bicycles from its trains, Tri-Rail allows them onboard and has some train cars with open cabins for bicycles in addition to a secure bicycle-locker program at stations.
Tri-Rail is planning to offer transfer-free rides to downtown, with no need to switch trains in Hialeah, which would bring to fruition the original plan for the new service. However, a timetable has not been released on when that option will become available.
SFRTA announced last month that Tri-Rail averaged more than 300,000 riders per month between January and November 2023, an 18 percent jump from the year prior.
