Passenger Trains > FL: Tri-Rail survival 50-50, exec says

Florida's commuter Tri-Rail system is in danger of shutting down, its exec director says. The line, which operates over former CSX tracks in south Florida serves and is funded by the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach. Palm Beach has said it does not intend to contribute its $30 million share of the annual operating and construction budget.

The line was created in 1989 (i would have thought earlier), and is currently constructing a service facility at the north end (i.e, deep in Palm Beach County). It has been run by contractors, with Keolis and Herzog handling it in recent years. Whether this is a ploy, or a serious statement is unclear at this time.  Tri-Rail runs parallel to BrightLine / Florida East Coast and terminates at Miami International Airport's multi-modal center.

https://www.wptv.com/wptv-investigates/tri-rail-troubles-chances-of-rail-service-surviving-are-50-50-director-says

IIRC it was established as a "temporary" mitigation for traffic congestion during a specific highway widening project, but has been continued because it is popular with enough votors and politicians.  Tomorrow mnay not be the same.

Definitely concerning.

Any reports on ridership, et al ?   A LOT of transit agencies have struggled to recover from that covid mess.  DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) certainly has.

41 Wrote:
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> Any reports on ridership, et al ?   A LOT of
> transit agencies have struggled to recover from
> that covid mess.  DART (Dallas Area Rapid
> Transit) certainly has.

Interesting enough, Tri-Rail has fully recovered its ridership after the pandemic.  They claim to be the leading the nation in that regard  That is something right there.  In fact their ridership for the July 2024-June 2025 fiscal year broke their all time ridership record (set in Fiscal Year 2019).  So lack of riders isn't one of its problems, that is for sure.  This information is from the Tri-Rail website.

Well, if these commuter agencies don't survive, we'll have plenty of surplus coaches that theoretically could be converted for intercity services of various types, if money could be found (hint:  It's simply not reasonable to wait ten years or more for new long-distance cars).  Admittedly a lot of creative interior design and maybe some design compromises would be needed). 

NPRocky Wrote:
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> Well, if these commuter agencies don't survive,
> we'll have plenty of surplus coaches that
> theoretically could be converted for intercity
> services of various types, if money could be found
> (hint:  It's simply not reasonable to wait ten
> years or more for new long-distance cars). 
> Admittedly a lot of creative interior design and
> maybe some design compromises would be needed). 

Quite frankly, I believe Tri-Rail needs to survive with at least its current schedules, and Amtrak needs to start figuring out solutions on its own (without being paasive).

Amtrak doesn't need to acquire used commuter rail equipment from a thriving agency! It needs to go from one to three shifts at Beech Grove and and clear it's OOS line which would free up enough capacity to return its fleet to full service! The only exception would be to acquire the North Star Fleet to replace the Borealis equipment! Trirail needs a dedicated funding source that unfortunately won't happen with the current mindset of the nation!

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The last thing south Florida needs is more people on the roads. I’m sure Florida’s elected leaders will get right on this funding issue after they finish administering critical tasks like making sure they’ve erased every street mural in the state because rainbows are scary.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/25 04:47 by DJ-12.

railstiesballast Wrote:
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> IIRC it was established as a "temporary"
> mitigation for traffic congestion during a
> specific highway widening project, but has been
> continued because it is popular with enough votors
> and politicians.  Tomorrow mnay not be the same.
It was a major construction/widening of I-95, which runs parallel to Tri-Rail.  I took it many times from Miami to West Palm and back for work and sometimes the engineer would do a "shave and a haircut" toot on the horn at the commuters sitting still on I-95.  Then there was the Boca Derby.  I guess there were some tight bus connections at the Boca Raton stop, which was a popular one, and one conductor would announce the start of the Boca Derby as he opened the doors, then would call the "race" as various people ran to catch their buses.  

I don't want commuter agencies to shut down either.  I was thinking not only of agencies under existential threat but also of agencies like the Seattle area's Sound Transit, which seem to have largely stopped regaining ridership lost in the pandemic, have no expansion plans and have quite a few cars in what appears to be permanent storage.

beebopper Wrote:
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> Amtrak doesn't need to acquire used commuter rail
> equipment from a thriving agency! It needs to go
> from one to three shifts at Beech Grove and and
> clear it's OOS line which would free up enough
> capacity to return its fleet to full service! 

Sure, find the skilled people who want to work for Amtrak and find the money to fund three shifts. Good luck.

Amtrak has the money to hire skilled crafts. A huge grant last year covered that. Amtrak isn't hiring the repair crafts and hasn't had ads in months.

Tri-Rail has big plans, but it has execution issues. They built a connection to FEC at Northwoods for the PGA and Jupiter expansion in 2021. The connection to Miami Central was a fiasco.

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NPRocky Wrote:
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> I don't want commuter agencies to shut down
> either.  I was thinking not only of agencies
> under existential threat but also of agencies like
> the Seattle area's Sound Transit, which seem to
> have largely stopped regaining ridership lost in
> the pandemic, have no expansion plans and have
> quite a few cars in what appears to be permanent
> storage.

I didn't mean to be critical about your post. That's sad about Sound Transit (the double meaning just dawned on me). Someone at Amtrak should be rooting out potentially available cars like that and figure out how to modify and use them. Finding a company to build a new version of a classic leg-rest seat should not be difficult. If it can't be done, we have really reached a sorry state of affairs in the USA.

Are there outside vendors who upgrade / rebuild rail cars? Like MetroEast and Progress Rail do for locomotives?

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Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Are there outside vendors who upgrade / rebuild
> rail cars? Like MetroEast and Progress Rail do for
> locomotives?

Should be. You would think a regional that rebuilds / upgrades its own cars would look for an opportunity to keep resources busy.

Can we keep the thread focused on the Tri-Rail situation??       The Amtrak equipment issues have been discussed ad nauseum elsewhere. 🙄

The immediate issue is the fact that the Florida Department of Transportation earlier this year unilaterally and with little notice, stopped providing a significant chunk of funding for both Tri-Rail and SunRail (in the Orlando area). Tallahassee has taken the position that it's not the state's responsibility to fund services that only a small portion of the state's taxpayers use. 

Whether you agree with their position or not, it's worth noting that Tri-Rail and SunRail serve populations that are generally more blue in their political leanings than the official state color (red).

Jim

Erie-Lackawanna Wrote:
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> The immediate issue is the fact that the Florida
> Department of Transportation earlier this year
> unilaterally and with little notice, stopped
> providing a significant chunk of funding for both
> Tri-Rail and SunRail (in the Orlando area).
> Tallahassee has taken the position that it's not
> the state's responsibility to fund services that
> only a small portion of the state's taxpayers
> use. 
>
> Whether you agree with their position or not, it's
> worth noting that Tri-Rail and SunRail serve
> populations that are generally more blue in their
> political leanings than the official state color
> (red).
>
> Jim

Brightline serves plenty of red areas and the states position on them is the same.  And they have at least formed a LLC for Cocoa to JAX for future expansion service there, which is as red as it gets.  Also, keep in mind that a lot of that south florida blue actually voted red this time around vs the previous election.

Erie-Lackawanna Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The immediate issue is the fact that the Florida
> Department of Transportation earlier this year
> unilaterally and with little notice, stopped
> providing a significant chunk of funding for both
> Tri-Rail and SunRail (in the Orlando area).
> Tallahassee has taken the position that it's not
> the state's responsibility to fund services that
> only a small portion of the state's taxpayers
> use. 
>
> Whether you agree with their position or not, it's
> worth noting that Tri-Rail and SunRail serve
> populations that are generally more blue in their
> political leanings than the official state color
> (red).
>
> Jim

I’ll bet FLDOT still funds state highways that only a small portion of the states taxpayers use though.

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