Passenger Trains > [FL] A Tri-Rail trip

Tri-Rail shut down its West Palm Beach to Miami rail line for about a week due to hurricane Irma. When service was restored, travel was free for three days, ending today. So, my wife and I took a ride. Boarded in Mangonia Park, a suburban neighborhood of West Palm Beach, and traveled to Miami International Airport station, about 75 miles one way. So, 150 miles of heavy rail for free. Good deal.

Several observations on the trip. This is a proof of purchase line, I noticed a few ticket kiosks were covered with garbage bags, and others were open for business. The Herzog crews delivered clear, helpful, scripted announcements. MANY passengers to and from the three airport connections, lots of roller bags, backpacks, etc. And, bicycles. Tri-Rail right of way varied from pretty rough to smooth as glass, considering the three cars I rode all had some flat spots on the wheels.

I noticed that the grade crossings varied from conventional, to quad gates, to conventional plus raised dividers between the auto lanes, to quad gates plus raised dividers. Didn't notice any particular rationale.

Picture 1 GP49-3 812 waits at Mangonia Park station.

Picture 2 upper deck of the three deck multilevels

Picture 3 several Tri-Rail cars have been modified to house 10-15 bikes on the lower level. I walked from car to car and noticed each car on both trips had several bikes inside the doors, there's a place for them in every car. This is unusual, I think there are only five or six cars set up like this. On the afternoon trip, most stations had multiple bike riders boarding or leaving.

---

---

---

Picture 4 - a gentleman unhooks his bike, and sets off on the next leg of his trip. He boarded about eight miles south in Lake Worth, and exited in Mangonia Park. Most (all?) cars have baggage racks right inside the doors. They were very well used.

The Tri-Rail connectivity to airports is very impressive. Step off a southbound train in West Palm and the free bus to the airport is about 75 feet away. Same with Dania - FLL airport. At Miami, you arrive at the rental car / transportation center. The Miami rail (Metro-rail) subway-like train is in the same building, Greyhound and Mega-Bus, etc.

Picture 5 - A Brookville BL36 locomotive, from the 3/4 view. Tri-Rail has several of these.

Picture 6 - BL36 and GP49

---

---

---

Picture 7 - I don't think I've ever seen four separate train sets in the Mangonia Park station before. In picture 6, sharp eyed observers might have noted the huge crowd of school kids on the platform. Perhaps a thousand of them. A solid wall along the platform four cars long, 30 feet wide.

This train set showed up, and the 812 pushed its train back a few hundred feet north. Led by a Rotem "crumple cab" this train had two mid train BL-36 locomotives, and eight cars. The kids piled into the platformed train, so I have no idea of what was happening here. No Amtrak today (97 might have been in the picture otherwise), which offered from flexibility for the DS.

Lots of fun today.

---

Palms & clouds paint scheme. Now that's unique! Appreciate the photos!

I had some involvement at CSX when Tri-Rail was first set up 20-some years ago. There was to be a big construction project on parallel I-95 and FDOT chose to use detour funding to establish the rail service. We all felt certain that as soon as the Federal money ran out that would be the end of that. How wrong we were!

Gordon

On the Los Angeles Metrolink system, all train sets now have a Bike Car, set up half of a down stairs and four locations for surf boards. Bikes are getting very popular.

This plus two spots at the remainder of coaches.