If Tri-Rail were ever to accord gold-star treatment to any of its passengers, two should go to J.P Crespo and his wife, Emelina, of Boca Raton.
On a wet, windswept train platform in Deerfield Beach recently, Crespo, a retired aviation technician who is now a freelance interpreter, said he and his wife have used South Florida’s publicly subsidized commuter train service since its inception more than 30 years ago.
“We have been using Tri-Rail since Day One,” he said while waiting to catch a train to Miami International Airport and a flight to Denver. What he didn’t know was that Tri-Rail was opening direct service to downtown Miami on Saturday. It would be just in time, he said, to accommodate friends from Chile who will be stopping by to visit before sailing out of PortMiami on a cruise.
“I have people coming here for a cruise,” Crespo said. “That would be great.”
Before Tri-Rail service started, he had driven I-95 to the Golden Glades interchange, parked his car and taken a bus to his job at the airport. Now he rarely, if ever, drives the interstate. “There is too much traffic on I-95,” he said.
It is the loyalty the Crespos and others have displayed over the years that has given the managements of Tri-Rail and Brightline, the high-speed railroad that operates between Miami and Orlando, the confidence that South Floridians are buying into rail travel, both locally and regionally.
David Dech, executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which operates Tri-Rail, stopped short last week of calling the new service to downtown Miami a litmus test for commuter rail. But he acknowledged it is symbolic of a growing appetite among road-weary commuters who are garaging their cars and taking trains to work across county lines.
“When you take a step back and look overall at South Florida, Brightline invigorated a passion for trains down here that I don’t think was there before,” Dech told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in an interview. “People are willing to ride the trains. Our trains are full. Brightline’s trains are full. We have already demonstrated a need for capacity. I think there is a hunger for it.”
Dech, a fourth-generation railroader whose previous job included the launch of a major commuter station in Austin, Texas, took over Tri-Rail early last year. The chief task on his bucket list has been to drive home the Miami project, which has been years in the making.
The new service will start “as a train-to-train transfer” at Tri-Rail’s Metrorail Transfer Station in Hialeah, where a shuttle train will travel from the north-south South Florida Rail Corridor used by Tri-Rail and onto a west-east segment owned by the Florida East Coast Railway for direct rides to MiamiCentral and back.
But the new segment will not initially offer the “single seat” ride originally envisioned due to logistical considerations.
“If you take our line you can get off our train at the Metro Transfer Station, walk across to another platform, and you’ll walk onto our train and go directly to MiamiCentral,” Dech said.
Over the next five years, on the strength of a $71.4 million federal grant, passengers will be riding new equipment acquired by Tri-Rail, which plans to add new passenger cars and new locomotives to upgrade its aging fleet.
So near but yet so far
Since 1989, Tri-Rail has operated from Mangonia Park north of West Palm Beach into Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Its southern terminus is Miami International Airport. But Tri-Rail could never deliver passengers to downtown Miami aboard its own trains. To get there, passengers have had to transfer from Tri-Rail to elevated Metro-Rail trains operated by Miami-Dade County.
That regimen was scheduled to change on Saturday, when the first Tri-Rail trains carrying paying passengers to and from downtown Miami were scheduled to start running. A dry run aboard a train filled with dignitaries from all three counties traversed the new segment on Friday.
“We are holding this special celebration to thank all of the individuals and organizations in the region that have supported the expansion of Tri-Rail services for so many years,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado, a member of the SFTRA governing board. “This new service aspires to improve the mobility in and out of Downtown Miami where traffic has been a challenge for a very long time.”
Wayne K. Roustan, Sun Sentinel
Tri-Rail trains carry people from all walks of professional life, including lawyers, executives, schoolteachers, airline crew members, medical professionals and construction workers. Its trains also have been characterized by railroad officials as school buses for students.
Nearly a dozen public and private entities provided funding for the $70 million project. They include Bayfront Management Trust, City of Miami, Citizen’s Independent Transportation Trust, Miami-Dade County, Miami Downtown Development Authority, Omni Community Redevelopment Agency and Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency.
‘Partners’
But it took agreements with Brightline, which started its higher-speed service in 2018 and controls the MiamiCentral station in downtown Miami, and the FEC, which owns the north-south rail corridor between Jacksonville and Miami, as well as the east-west link in Miami-Dade County, to make the connection possible.
The railroads are, in effect, business partners who are betting millions that South Floridians will increasingly instead take trains to travel to and from work or to social events across county borders.
“We are excited to welcome Tri-Rail to MiamiCentral, which will provide increased connectivity for our region,” said Patrick Goddard, president of Brightline, in a statement Friday. “It is exciting witnessing firsthand how the South Florida region is embracing rail travel and taking cars off the road.”
“We fully anticipate working with Tri-Rail on highlighting the mobility options available in the region, similar to our efforts with existing transit partners,” the company said in a response to questions about Brightline working jointly with Tri-Rail.
Asked if there is any expectation that Tri-Rail will be feeding passengers to Brightline and vice versa, the company said: “These systems are complementary and will create better mobility for all of South Florida.”
In a rare act of cross-promotion, Brightline issued a statement to make the case for people to ride Tri-Rail.
“The long-awaited start of Tri-Rail service into MiamiCentral in January 2024 provides a much-needed expansion of transportation services in the region for South Florida commuters and visitors,” the statement said. “Passengers will benefit with a connection from any Tri-Rail station to the heart of downtown Miami.”
The statement added, “The service starts at a time when Tri-Rail is demonstrating strength in ridership.”
Ridership closer to full recovery
Tri-Rail ridership is now averaging more than 300,000 passengers a month, totaling just short of 4 million rides for the year, according to the commuter line’s data. Ridership for last year rose 17% versus 2022, with weekday traffic restored to 85% of pre-pandemic levels. Weekend ridership has fully recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels.
The line’s traffic to all three of the region’s international airports continues to grow, with Miami International the rail line’s busiest destination, according to Dech.
For its part, Brightline said its own trains, which operate at stations in downtown Miami, Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach and Orlando, saw ridership rise by 101% in November 2023 compared with November 2022. Year-to-date ridership through November 2023 was up 74%.
“After operating between Miami and West Palm Beach since 2018 and connecting to Orlando in September, Brightline reached the 5 million passenger milestone closing out 2023,” the company said.
Commuter growth prospects
Dech said he wants Tri-Rail to be in the mix for any rail transportation growth under development by the three counties. That would include the Coastal Link commuter service that Brightline and the counties are designing along the FEC line.
It, too, would start at MiamiCentral, include at least five stations in Miami-Dade, and eventually cross over county lines into Broward and northward into Palm Beach County. Full funding has yet to be obtained.
“We want to be an asset to Miami-Dade and Broward and Palm Beach counties as they formulate their plans for commuter rail service,” Dech said. “We are here as a partner. We are here as a resource.
Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel
A southbound train approaches the Fort Lauderdale Tri-Rail station west of I-95. The three-county commuter rail line started its new service to Brightline’s MiamiCentral station over the weekend for $5 one-way, well below the prices being charged by Brightline from its downtown Fort Lauderdale station.
“When it comes time for somebody to operate (the Coastal Link service), we would love to be part of that conversation,” he added. “I am very optimistic about the future.”
“It’s a very exciting time for people in South Florida,” Dech added. “I-95 is what it is. You can only add so many lanes and we’re looking for an alternative.”
But first things first. Recently, he has been focused on ensuring a successful launch of the MiamiCentral station and a seamless trip for the train full of dignitaries who were to take the ride on Friday.
“I’ll feel better Friday afternoon,” Dech said.
If you take the ride
When the service starts for paying passengers on Saturday, Jan. 13, it will be a “soft launch” for two weeks starting with six trains going in and six trains coming out of MiamiCentral, according to a Tri-Rail statement.
Trains will be “incrementally added to the schedule” with a goal of 26 weekday trains — 13 each way — to and from the MiamiCentral station. “The new connecting service will be available 7 days a week, including holidays,” the company said.
Fares will be in line with the affordable tickets to which passengers are accustomed.
A sampling of one-way tickets to downtown Miami: From West Palm Beach ($8.75); from Boca Raton, ($6.25); from Fort Lauderdale ($5). The economy tickets sold by Brightline are roughly double those amounts or more.
Tri-Rail customer service workers will be available at MiamiCentral to help passengers, the company said in a statement.
Customers may obtain updates and additional information by visiting www.tri-rail.com, calling 1-800-TRI-RAIL (874-7245) or following Tri-Rail on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), LinkedIn and Instagram.