Tri-Rail to Expand Train Service into Downtown Miami

The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) announced the start of Tri-Rail’s expanded service into the MiamiCentral Station for Jan. 13, according to the agency's news release.

“The day has finally arrived when the public can plan their direct trips in and out of Downtown Miami onboard Tri-Rail trains,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado. “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.”

SFRTA's New Service

The new service will be introduced as a train-to-train transfer at the Metrorail Transfer Station in Hialeah, where a shuttle train will spur out of the South Florida Rail Corridor (SFRC) into the Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway for a direct service to MiamiCentral and back.

The service will soft launch on Jan. 13, for two weeks starting with six trains going in and six trains out of MiamiCentral, with more trains incrementally added to the schedule before having the full schedule consisting of 26 weekday trains, 13 in and out of MiamiCentral.

“We have worked through many challenges which only makes the accomplishment of this major service enhancement for the public that much sweeter,” added Regalado. “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.”

Partners Working on Downtown Miami Link Project

The Downtown Miami Link Project (DTML) has been a coordinated effort with multiple partners from the region, who aimed at providing passenger rail service between the South Florida Rail Corridor where Tri-Rail currently operates, and the FEC, which owns the tracks that connect into Downtown Miami.

Several partners supported and advocated for this effort, which leveraged the infrastructure established by the introduction of Brightline with the region's investment and support of the Tri-Rail system.

Among some of these partners are the funding partners that provided a local investment of $70 million for construction costs to accommodate Tri-Rail trains in MiamiCentral, which include Bayfront Management Trust, City of Miami, Citizen’s Independent Management Trust, Miami-Dade County, Miami Downtown Development Authority, Omni Community Redevelopment Agency, and Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency.

Tri-Rail’s updated schedule including the new service will be made available the week prior to its start, as the agency continues to evaluate the train schedule updated on Dec. 11 in preparation for the expansion.

The new connecting service will be available seven days a week, including holidays.

More About Tri-Rail from 2023

The expanded service announcement follows SFRTA's recent news of increased ridership.

In December, SFRTA reported that Tri-Rail train ridership continued to increase in 2023, compared to where the system was in 2022.

Tri-Rail ridership averaged over 300,000 monthly riders between January and November of 2023, an overall 18% increase from the same time in 2022.

In March of 2023, SFRTA's Governing Board approved the new look for Tri-Rail trains.

The agency announced it was changing the “blue skies, white clouds, and palm trees” design for the first time since its first unveiling on Tri-Rail trains in 2001.

The opportunity to change Tri-Rail’s train design was presented at the SFRTA’s February board meeting, where the agency was programming work to re-wrap the exterior of 12 locomotives and 49 passenger vehicles that were due for replacement.