Tri-Rail expanding services to Downtown Miami, rivaling Brightline – NBC 6 South Florida

The time is almost here for the Tri-Rail to  add expanded service to Miami Central Station. Soon, Brightline will no longer be the only commuter train option to downtown Miami.

The goal was for the service to start at the end of this year, but there are a few finishing touches left before Tri-Rail can officially begin rolling into Miami Central Station.

“We’re getting close. We’re starting to do the integrative steps of testing into Miami Central so we have a new schedule going into effect on Monday with some slight changes. We’re trying to make sure we can mesh our schedule together with our partners at Brightline and the Florida East Coast Railway so we can have a seamless operation,” said David Dech, executive director of SFRTA Tri-Rail.

Starting on December 11th, Tri-Rail train times will be slightly adjusted as they gear up for this big move.

“You’ve got Brightline into Miami Central, you have the MetroRail, the MetroMover. You have so many options and this is just another compliment. It’s one more layer of ways to get people off of I-95 or off of the Turnpike and that’s really the goal here,” said Dech.

The Tri-Rail, which is run by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, has been working for months to have platforms modified to fit their trains at Miami Central Station.

“We’ve been running trains in and out of there for a couple months now, qualifying our crews and making sure everybody is good with the new service. The trains absolutely fit in the station and they fit like a glove,” said Dech.

Tri-Rail riders weighed in on the future added transit stop.

“I think that’s a great idea. Expansion is always great. It gives people the opportunity who don’t have transportation. Now it’s affordable to everyone,” said Tri-Rail rider Wanda Caliman.

“Honestly I think it’s a good thing. There’s not a lot of stops in Miami,” said Tri-Rail rider Peter Engel.

“Yeah I think the more trains going Downtown, the better so people can be able to travel better,” said Tri-Rail rider Justin Powell.

Tri-Rail leadership estimates it will cost about $8 million dollars annually for service running in and out of Miami Central Station.

As an added perk, Tri-Rail ridership is also up 18 percent compared to the same time last year.

“We’re running about 90 to 95 percent of our pre-Covid numbers. We are routinely cresting 14,000 riders a day and there’s room for more. We want more to come on,” said Dech.

While there is no official launch date yet for Tri-Rail’s expanded service into downtown, the changes are on the horizon.

“We expect something very soon and we want nothing more than to be able to come out and give an exact date and throw a big party,” said Dech.