The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) has announced that Tri-Rail services will extend to MiamiCentral Station from Saturday 13 January, marking the completion of the Downtown Miami Link Project (DTML).
This is a result of a multi-year, coordinated effort to provide passenger rail service between the South Florida Rail Corridor (SFRC), where Tri-Rail operates, and the Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway, which owns the tracks into Downtown Miami.
This project leverages the infrastructure established by the introduction of Brightline, alongside the region’s investment in Tri-Rail.
“The day has finally arrived when the public can plan their direct trips in and out of Downtown Miami onboard Tri-Rail trains. It has been years of hard work and coordination with many supporting partners throughout the region, so we celebrate this news with them, our supporters and mostly our loyal passengers.”
The new service will be introduced as a train-to-train transfer at the Metrorail Transfer Station in Hialeah.
From here, a train will travel from the South Florida Rail Corridor (SFRC) into the Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway to provide a direct service to MiamiCentral and back.
The service will first launch on 13 January. For two weeks, six daily trains will operate in each direction between Hialeah and MiamiCentral. More trains will then be incrementally added to the schedule before a full schedule launches with 13 trains in and 13 trains out of MiamiCentral each weekday.
“We have worked through many challenges which only makes the accomplishment of this major service enhancement for the public that much sweeter. The SFRTA Governing Board was ready to elevate the sense of urgency to get this project completed this past year that ultimately helped get it to the finish line.”
The Downtown Miami Link Project was enabled by 70 million USD in funding for construction costs, allowing the infrastructure to accommodate Tri-Rail trains in MiamiCentral.
The funding partners for this investment include Bayfront Management Trust, City of Miami, Citizen’s Independent Transportation Trust, Miami-Dade County, Miami Downtown Development Authority, Omni Community Redevelopment Agency and Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency.
