MIAMI — Travelers who want to visit downtown Miami will have a new option starting later this month.
The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) announced Friday that Tri-Rail's expanded service into the MiamiCentral station will begin Jan. 13.
"The day has finally arrived when the public can plan their direct trips in and out of Downtown Miami onboard Tri-Rail trains," Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado, SFRTA governing board member, said. "It has been years of hard work and coordination with many supporting partners throughout the region, so we celebrate this news with them, our supporters and mostly our loyal passengers."
The agency said the new service will be introduced as a train-to-train transfer at the Metrorail transfer station in Hialeah, where a shuttle train will spur out of the South Florida Rail Corridor (SFRC) into the Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway for a direct service to MiamiCentral and back.
The service will soft launch on Jan. 13 for two weeks starting with six trains going in and six trains out of MiamiCentral. More trains will be added incrementally to the schedule before having the full schedule consisting of 26 weekday trains — 13 in and out of MiamiCentral.
Regalado said SFRTA worked through "many challenges" to finally make this service a reality.
"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," Regalado added.
The new connecting service will be available seven days a week, including holidays.
Tri-Rail customer experience specialists will be staffed to work MiamiCentral when the new service begins to assist passengers with their travels.
Another option for South Florida travelers is Brightline, which has offered train service to downtown Miami since 2018.