MIAMI – A long-anticipated transportation option for downtown Miami is finally on track with a definitive start date.
The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority announced Friday that Tri-Rail trains will roll into MiamiCentral station, located at 600 NW First Ave., beginning on Jan. 13.
Service was supposed to begin in 2017.
“There were some structural delays on the station, there were some construction delays on the station, there were issues with our equipment. I mean it was kind of the lining up of everything added up to it,” SFRTA Director David Deck said. “So, working with our partners over here, Brightline, the station stations have been worked, the stations are ready, the trains fit, we modified some of the stairs on some of our equipment to make sure that it fits the platform here for level boarding.”
with the addition of the tri rail service riders leaving or going to downtown Miami will no longer need to use the metro rail to then transfer to tri rail trains, but they will still need to transfer to a another tri rail train at the transfer station to continue north Dec hopes eventually service can expand to include direct service to Palm Beach County.
The commuter rail service, which connects Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, will supplement already existing Brightline service into the station.
Riders will be able to connect to Miami’s free Metromover system at the nearby Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. station to travel towards the Omni or Brickell neighborhoods.
Currently, Tri-Rail passengers traveling to downtown Miami have to transfer to Miami’s Metrorail system at the Tri-Rail/Metrorail transfer station or at the Miami International Airport station.
However, riders will not be able to travel directly to and from Palm Beach County’s Mangonia Park, the northern end of the line, or points in between.
Instead, at least for now, passengers will have to change Tri-Rail trains at the Metrorail transfer station to continue their journey.
Deck said he hopes service becomes direct in the future.
The Jan. 13 date starts a two-week “soft launch,” according to the agency, with six trains running each way in and out of MiamiCentral.
Trains will be incrementally added until reaching a full anticipated schedule of 26 trains, 13 in and 13 out, according to the SFRTA. The service will run daily and on holidays.
According to the SFRTA, riders can visit the Tri-Rail website for more information.