MIAMI — Starting Monday, Tri-Rail trains will begin test runs on Florida East Coast tracks in Miami also used by Brightline and freight trains.
The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority has received approval from the FEC to test equipment and train personnel on the tracks in preparation for the anticipated start of Tri-Rail service directly into downtown Miami. Tri-Rail trains currently operate on CSX tracks, which include freight and Amtrak trains.
Brightline has provided authorization for Tri-Rail trains to enter the MiamiCentral Station as part of the testing.
"The day has arrived where the first Tri-Rail train will run directly into downtown Miami and into the MiamiCentral Station for testing, thanks to the great partnership we have established with FEC and Brightline," said Commissioner Raquel Regalado, SFRTA Governing Board Chair. "This is yet another momentous occasion marking the progress of the work that has been in the making for a very long time."
Tri-Rail will test 26 trains a day from Monday through Friday between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. The trains will change tracks from the South Florida Rail Corridor, where Tri-Rail operates, onto the FEC tracks just south of the Metrorail Transfer Station.
Trains will be allowed to travel no faster than 40 miles per hour on the approximate 8 miles of tracks, starting from Hialeah eastbound and onto the east-west portion of tracks currently in use by FEC freight trains only, then continue to bend south in the neighborhood of Little River to the FEC tracks currently in use by Brightline.
Variable message signs will be in place at 12 crossings along the east-west segment of tracks to alert drivers and pedestrians of the additional train activity, with SFRTA personnel handing out flyers with safety tips.
The full stretch of FEC tracks where Tri-Rail trains will test run: Hialeah, Gladeview, Liberty City, Little River, Little Haiti, Upper East Side, Morningside, Buena Vista, Miami Design District, Midtown, Edgewater, Wynwood, Omni, Overtown, Park West and Downtown. SFRTA may request additional dates to be considered for testing.
Connections currently include Broward County Transit, Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works (Metrorail and Metrobus), Palm Tran, taxis and local municipality trolleys and community bus systems
Tri-Rail trains currently travel 73 miles from Miami Airport to Mangonia Park in northern Palm Beach County from 4 a.m. to 11:35 p.m. on weekdays and 5:17 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. on weekends and holidays.
Tri-Rail ridership is averaging over 13,000 weekday and 6,500 weekend passengers in the first three months of the year, which is a 25% increase from the same time last year.
Service began in 1989.
In May, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration announced the SFRTA as one of six recipients to be awarded a federal grant to replace aging passenger railcars, as part of a program to improve reliability, safety and accessibility on the nation’s rail transit systems.
SFRTA will receive $71.7 million to replace 24 rail vehicles, representing 32% of Tri-Rail's fleet.
Also, trains will be getting a new look, changing the emblematic "blue skies, white clouds and palm trees" design for the first time since its first unveiling in 2001. The new "On Track" design incorporates Tri-Rail's logo colors.
