Passenger Trains > Amtrak MIC Central Station Service to begin in Winter 2017

Amtrak MIC Central Station Service to begin Winter 2017

If you have not seen the information (dated 29 January 2017) here's a brief update:
The days (nights, actually) of Amtrak passengers arriving in Miami  - to the sound of House Music, and Gangstaz lurking parked in the MIA station drive-up area - couldn't end any sooner.  I for one can't wait for the new station to open, with immediate access to car rentals, the restaurants nearby, and a quick drive to the beaches. 

FDOT is finalizing an Amtrak agreement to provide service at the MIC Central Station:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/traffic/article129451899.html

YES!!!! 

For those of us needing to connect to MIA from elsewhere  (particularly south) in Florida, having the AMTRAK station at MIA will mean many more choices of connecting transportation.  

Can't come soon enough. 

Bringing Amtrak into the airport will be a big plus for South Florida.

Posted from Android

Platforms 200' too short due to an "engineering error"? Sounds like a willful choice to me, not an "error."

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

Dcmcrider Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Platforms 200' too short due to an "engineering
> error"? Sounds like a willful choice to me, not an
> "error."

I have seen engineering errors of greater consequence. Not necessarily a willful choice.

TAW

There's an old thread on TO about the first time the problem came due, back in 2013.

The FDOT plans apparently did not include platforms long enough for peak season Amtrak trains. FDOT sent Amtrak its plans.

Nobody at Amtrak advised FDOT of any required changes and no emails or records have been produced showing any agreement or disagreement.

FDOT went ahead and arranged the streets etc as the plans indicated. After the work was underway, Amtrak said it was unable to move citing the platform issue.

The old thread cited all kinds of possible reasons why this might have happened. And it's unclear how the plans would change. The five story building won't be torn down. The road won't be moved. The platform won't be built into 25th street.

Posted from Android

From my information the problem arouse from a non-rail agency asking a rail agency for information.  

The question asked about the platform length, way back at design level, was: [to AMTRAK] how many cars would a train have at maximum and how long would each car be?  

AMTRAK responded appropriately to this question with a maximum number of cars and the length of each car.  

Note, the question did not ask about number and lengths of locomotive for train .... hence the problem of about 200 feet:  the design created would clear the highway crossing for the cars but not the locomotives.  

 

About time. Whenever I stay in the Miami Beach area, I always detrain at Ft. Lauderdale and take a taxi to rent a car at nearby Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood airport, the most recent time being 2 weeks ago. Aside from the drive to Miami Beach, which can be a horror show on I 95, it's pretty convenient. Arriving at the airport in Miami, with a short walk to the rental cars however would be ideal. Can't wait for this to happen...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/17 12:10 by chess.

The access to the rental cars is wonderful in the station.  I used it a few times.  You get off the Tri-Rail train, walk to the elevators. They take you up to the people over to the airport, or to the adjacent rental car check in location. You either get your rental car there, or go down 1-2 levels to the various rental car companies.  I believe off-airport rental buses also leave from that fourth floor level..

Rail to airplane is completely covered, you won't get wet. Which isn't an insignificant issue in south Florida in August, etc.

Please don't be so harsh on Amtrak project planners or FDOT.  I was "the Amtrak guy" based in Jacksonville back in 2002 - 15 years ago - that specified to FDOT how long the Amtrak trains would be.  I did it during a time of turmoil. David Gunn had just arrived and implemented a policy of only "state-of-good-repair".  There was not going to be ANY service expansion, anywhere.  I went out on a limb and asked FDOT to include Amtrak into the plans as a favor, even though the corporation was dickering with the Bush administration just to make it to the end of the year.  I had no "boss" since he had already left the company. And my organization in Amtrak - the advanced service planning group -  had just been abolished, (even though we were making a 200% profit from State-funded rail planning contracts around the country).  (Makes sense since there wasn't going to be any more service to expand.)  So, the assumptions I gave FDOT were to assume the existing split of the Florida trains would use the MIC station.  It was either 6 or 8 cars with a locomotive for two trains per day.  They accommodated that request and also reconfigured the adjacent FPL substation to make it happen.  (BTW, they also included two tracks for the future HSR project.  The FDOT MIC-MIA planners were really great people to work with.)  With my job abolished, I was out of there two weeks later.  There was no one,  I repeat, no one, to hand the project off to.  (Although I left the files in JAX, told Engineering in Philly where they were, and everyone had my phone number).  Being in survival mode, there was no interest in Amtrak in this project until after Mr. Gunn left.  Over time, Amtrak service planning in Philly changed the service assumptions but, I would add, did not contribute any funds to help design the Amtrak facilities.  They did their best given the guidance and financial and political climate they were in.
So I think, overall, and after 15 years, that Amtrak is planning to serve this facility in the near future is a happy miracle!  And if anyone on this forum can predict what the rail passenger world will look like 15 years into the future, you deserve a really big pay raise!