Photos: New Track Being Laid To Bring Tri-Rail To Downtown Miami

·20 Comments

Commuters will be able to take Tri-Rail into downtown Miami later this year, thanks to new track now being laid.

The service will begin with 26 daily trains into the MiamiCentral transit hub.

 

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Anonymous
3 years ago

how about the coastal link?

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Oscar
3 years ago

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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District Worker
3 years ago

This represents the first component of the Coastal Link. Once downtown Miami service begins, I would imagine SFRTA would begin land acquisition for stations along the Coastal Link. As reported in the Miami Herald, several developers who own land along the track in Little Haiti have already suggested they would donate land for a station. For me, I am excited about the prospect of a Midtown/Design District station.

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suomynona
3 years ago

There is no funding for Coastal Link.

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William
3 years ago

When Gov Scott turned down the federal money for HS rail, everyone was all upset. I was not. Federal money is complicated and especially for rail installation.

I think this turned out much better than anyone could imagine. No public money at all and now we will have regular train service to downtown miami from west palm from two major providers – and hopefully to Orlando long term.

Look at where california is with there bullet trains. And even their population centers are probably more significant (San Diego, LA, SF). They are hurling towards significant cost over runs with no end in sight and likely no train service.

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Anon
3 years ago

Do you also have the same opinion about funding roads? You may find this article interesting.
http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2017/07/01/a-generational-failure-as-the-u-s-fantasizes-the-rest-of-the-world-builds-a-new-transport-system/

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Anonymous
3 years ago

I love the part of that article that jabs at Trump over Twitter, praises China who stole Japanese and German technology, and offers real solutions to our transportation issues.

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NewFlorida
3 years ago

You can not compare Florida’s terrain to California’s. They are both two completely different landscapes. Also Florida is the biggest Tourism Destination State in the United States. I myself do not feel as though we would have had the same issues at all. Florida isn’t even as long in miles as California! The residents of Florida should have been given a choice on whether or not to except the money from the Federal Government. It shouldn’t have been left up to a Pompous Dictator!

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Anonymous
3 years ago

I guarantee you “NewFlorida,” if that “Pompous Dictator” lost twice, HSR still wouldn’t have broken ground yet, and the money would be lost like the Metrorail penny tax from the early-2000s.

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Anonymous
3 years ago

Also, California is building a system with a design speed of 220 MPH, Brightline will be operating at a max of 125 MPH to Orlando. Building the former requires more of basically everything.

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Anonymous
3 years ago

Gee, do I the taxpayer want to pay for something, or will I let some private company pay for it instead? Tough choice there, sparky.

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Anonymous
3 years ago

*their

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Anonymous
3 years ago

Though it’s true the estimates have definitely increased since the bond measure for CAHSR was passed, the doom and gloom reported about the progress of the system has thus far not materialized. All bids for the ongoing construction came in under budget and while there was a risk analysis done that showed that costs could increase by approximately 50% for the first portion, that was in a worst-case scenario situation where basically everything that could go wrong did go wrong. While construction is behind schedule (partly due to ongoing lawsuits by opponents), the catastrophic situation necessary to increase the costs by half has not materialized. Also, it’s worth pointing out that part of the requirements for receiving additional Federal funds was that if the project is abandoned, it has to be left usable by Amtrak. So either way, it’s going to get used.

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Paul
3 years ago

There’s no public money in the Tri-Rail? How do you work that one out?!

I’m glad for AAF, it provides a way out of our current system and it neatly illustrates how biased the system is against both public and private rail. AAF is having to lease land at market value (roads don’t), pay property taxes (roads don’t), has no access to low interest taxpayer backed bonds in practice because politics make it close to impossible despite schemes like RRIF existing (roads do), and is suffering bogus lawsuits from municipalities almost completely unaffected by the service (and insofar as the Treasure Coast is affected, overwhelmingly positively.) Those who have always pretended to oppose rail because it can’t pay for itself have been proven to be the liars and hypocrites that they actually mostly are.

But no, the Tri-Rail expansion is taxpayer funded, and rightly so. Ordinary taxes (ie non gas) already subsidize the rivals to the Tri-Rail at a rate of around 2/3. The roads budget is out of control and is doing nothing but making things worse in popular places to live like South Florida. We need better transit. Tri-Rail is part of that. A massive MetroRail expansion would make sense too. And FLHSR would have been a great contribution to the issue.

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Anonymous
3 years ago

it isn’t the problem with the desire for rail in California. It’s biggest problem is all of the partisan feuding going on in Sacramento. Californians do want more and better rail service, but a particular group of partisan hacks want ill will on the governor. Then there are some that are still trying to push their silly sci-fi alternatives.

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Alan
3 years ago

I like the concrete base(s) at the track more so than the wooden planks. It’s asteticaly pleasing and I would think offers a more stable ride. Would there be any plans to replace the wood with concrete?

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Anonymous
3 years ago

I think the concrete bases allow room for high speed lines later in the future, but for the moment, I don’t think there’s any need to replace wood with concrete as long as the wood works. If it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.

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Samuel Augustus Jennings
3 years ago

This crucial connection was s hard battle to win.

I was born and bred in Florida and it is still backwards as hell. Sunshine State can’t compare with progressive California in any way, shape or form.

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Ray
3 years ago

The costal link is years away. Once Bright Line is up and running with their twenty plus trains aday, it will be hard to fit another 30 tri rail trains plus the FEC frights on that line without triple tracking to Jupiter.

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Anonymous
3 years ago

@ Ray bright;line going to Orlando is years away to but i could see perhaps Tri-Rail to Jupiter. I dont know if they’d have to triple track they could make a passing track at the Tri-Rail stations like they’re doing at the Brightline station in west palm to avoid having to triple track the line to Jupiter fully.

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