South Florida rail riders yearning for more cheap local train trips can expect the proposed Broward Commuter Rail South project to come alive no earlier than the end of 2027, with the county applying for federal money to fund construction by the end of this year.
Those are among the takeaways from recent public briefings from the Florida Department of Transportation, which is nearing the end of a three-year study period designed to assess impacts on the local environment, and set the stage for federal funds that will back most of the $291 million cost.
Among the next key steps for the county: Cutting a deal with Brightline, the high-speed rail service, for access rights to the Florida East Coast Railway corridor, which is owned and also used by the FEC freight railroad.
Both Brightline and the county reaffirmed in recent days that talks are ongoing. Separate negotiations have been underway between Brightline and Miami-Dade, which is designing its own Northeast Corridor commuter line between downtown Miami and Aventura. Ultimately, the Broward and Miami-Dade projects would combine, providing commuters in both counties with a seamless — and cheap — connection between the MiamiCentral station in downtown Miami and a station to be built in south Fort Lauderdale near the Broward Health Medical Center.
“We’re optimistic with the progress and have ongoing engagement with both counties to get this done,” said Brightline spokesman Ben Porritt. He offered no other details.
“Preliminary discussions are underway with Brightline to explore the various options and potential payment strategies to secure the access to allow Broward County to operate commuter rail on the Florida East Coast Railway corridor,” said Greg Meyer, assistant director of communications for Broward County.. “Formal negotiations with Brightline will begin once Broward County completes the federal environmental review process later this summer.”
In Broward, stations also would be located at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and in Hollywood. Once over the Broward-Miami-Dade line, trains would stop at Aventura as well as other locations before MiamiCentral.
Brightline trains, however, would not operate as a part of the proposed commuter system. A separate operator for the new system, possibly Tri-Rail, has yet to be chosen, officials have said.
Courtesy Florida Dept. of Transportation
A map of the proposed Broward Commuter Rail South project, which would include stations in south Fort Lauderdale, at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and in the City of Hollywood.
No turning back?
“Broward Commuter Rail South is all full speed ahead,” said Gregory Stuart, executive director of the Broward County Metropolitan Planning Organization, which helps set transportation policy priorities for the county. “What that speed is will depend on things like the availability of the train cars themselves from U.S. manufacturers and the speed of the regulatory approval process. But both counties and the cities along the way are fully involved and excited about making this happen as soon as is practical.”
Some key operating points, according to the Florida Department of Transportation:
- Distance: 11.5 miles
- Broward stations: South Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, City of Hollywood
- Fares: To be determined, but more on the level of Tri-Rail, not Brightline.
- Projected ridership: 3,725 weekday average
- Funding: State is providing up to $74.3 million, county has committed $98.6 million, with funds anticipated to be sourced from its 1% surtax for transportation. The final component is expected from the Federal Capital Investment Grants Small Starts grant program.
- Operator: To be determined.
- Possible start date: Late 2027
Heavy commuter demand
The project is the first major endeavor with the county’s sweeping Premium Mobility Plan, a.k.a PREMO, which also is expected to include light rail, bus rapid transit and high-frequency bus service.
“A lot of people are very, very interested in seeing rail here in Broward County in general,” said Coree Cuff Lonergan, general manager and director of transportation for the county.
In a telephone interview, she called it “amazing”: that 130 people attended in-person and virtual meetings conducted by the Florida Department of Transportation and the county in Hollywood late last month. Usually, people are not that engaged, she said.
Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy, an early advocate of establishing a commuter rail link south of Fort Lauderdale’s New River, believes public support for commuter rail in South Florida “has only grown.” Backing is also strong for service north of the river, but planning has been slowed amid a dispute between the county and City of Fort Lauderdale over whether a tunnel or new bridge should be built as a means of expanding the waterway crossing.
“People even more so clamor for a better transportation option than being stuck in traffic on I-95,” he said.
Lonergan, whom the county hired away last year from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, is also encouraged that Brightline has boosted its fares, reverting to its original intercity business model versus a commuter model.
“Our pricing won’t be nearly what it is on Brightline,” she said. “We’re working with Miami-Dade to figure out what the fares would look like.”
When it started operating its higher speed trains in 2018 — before it built out its 170-mile extension between South Florida and Orlando — Brightline billed itself as a higher speed regional intercity railroad.
But before Brightline opened its Orlando service in September 2023, it effectively acted as a high-end commuter service that served as an introductory teaser for riders traveling among the downtowns of West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
Brightline quickly demonstrated an ability to attract South Florida riders after its initial launch, and again after an extended hiatus between March 2020 and November 2021 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It carried 2.1 million passengers in 2023, and projects 4 million for this year.
And Tri-Rail, which recently announced a July 1 start for express service between West Palm Beach to downtown Miami via its state-owned rail corridor west of I-95, says it is back up to 14,000 to 15,000 riders daily after seeing major declines during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic
Gale Bulfin, senior vice president of investor relations at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, the county economic development arm, was among the many sold by the service, and intends to use the Broward Commuter Rail South when it takes hold.
“I am going to be a huge user of the coastal link for sure because it is connecting all of the population centers I am working in,” she said. Bulfin pointed to “incredible growth” from rail-inspired development.
Builders, she said, are eager to constrict residential and mixed-use projects in both north and south Broward.
“We also talk to employers who say this is a talent magnet for them,” Bulfin added. “This gives them an opportunity to get folks from all parts of South Florida.”
Randall Vitale, co-chair of the transportation committee for the Broward Workshop, a private, nonprofit organization consisting of countywide business leaders, called the proposed line a “financially effective” way for people to move across county lines.
“There’s a lot of good that will come from expanding commuter rail and commuter options in general,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of congestion on the roads. That’s not going to change.”
“You have to focus on moving people, not just cars,” he added.
Years of study
According to the Broward Commuter Rail project website managed by the FDOT, the agency and Broward County started “evaluating various alternatives for implementing commuter rail along the Florida East Coast Railway from the (Brightline) passenger rail station in the City of Aventura in Miami-Dade County to Broward County” after the agency spent years studying an 85-mile stretch along the Florida East Coast line in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
Miami-Dade was the first to adopt its plan for a so-called Northeast Corridor between downtown Miami and Aventura.
In August 2022, Broward commissioners green-lighted Broward Commuter Rail South, and entered a development phase in December of that year.
Vitale of the Broward Workshop said he hopes the policymakers, rail operators, elected and non-elected officials all stay the course and ultimately complete a regional commuter system along the FEC corridor..
“It just makes so much sense,” he said, recalling it’s taken some 20 years to get this far. “We’ve just got to figure out a way (to build it) for the region, even if it’s one section or one block at a time. It’s good for everybody.”
Of the proposed 2027 startup, Lonergan told the Hollywood meeting: “I am not giving up on that date.”