Tri-Rail is a commuter rail service linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The Tri prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Tri-Rail is managed by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) along CSX Transportation's former Miami Subdivision; the line is now wholly owned by the Florida Department of Transportation. The system has 19 stations along the Southeast Florida coast, and connects directly to Amtrak at numerous stations, to Metrorail at the Metrorail Transfer station, Miami Airport station, and MiamiCentral, and to Brightline at MiamiCentral.
In , the line had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
A second Tri-Rail line on the Florida East Coast Railway corridor, dubbed the "Coastal Link", has been proposed. The line would operate between Toney Penna station in Jupiter and MiamiCentral in Downtown Miami, and add commuter rail service between the downtown areas of cities between West Palm Beach and Miami. Combined with the existing Tri-Rail line, this expanded Tri-Rail system is estimated to have a daily passenger ridership of almost 30,000; or approximately 9 million passengers per annum, doubling Tri-Rail's current ridership.
History
1920s: Seaboard–All Florida Railway
The line on which Tri-Rail operates was built by the Seaboard–All Florida Railway (a subsidiary of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad) for intercity passenger rail service in the early 1920s. The line was inaugurated on January 7, 1927. Intercity rail service by Seaboard operated the Orange Blossom Special service from New York City until 1953. Amtrak continues to offer passenger rail service with the Floridian train from Chicago and Silver Meteor train from New York City. Today, the original 1920s Seaboard stations are used by Tri-Rail for service at West Palm Beach, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Hollywood. Though no longer in use, the Seaboard stations at Delray Beach, Opa-locka, and Hialeah are still standing.
1980s–1990s: Planning and inauguration
Planning for a new commuter rail line began in 1983, and building the organization began in 1986. The current system was formed by the Florida Department of Transportation and began operation January 9, 1989, to provide temporary commuter rail service while construction crews widened Interstate 95 and the parallel Florida's Turnpike.3,000 a day ride Tri-Rail trains Railway Age February 1989 page 24 Tri-Rail was free from opening until June 1, 1989.
Due to higher than expected ridership, FDOT made Tri-Rail a permanent service, adding more trains and stations in the process. The state's original plan was to use the more urban Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) line, but FEC declined the offer as it wanted freight to be their top priority. In 1998, the initial route was extended north from the West Palm Beach station to the , and south from to Miami Airport (at an earlier station on the site of the current station). Construction of the extensions began in 1996; which added nearly to the system.
2000s: New stations, more service
In the early 2000s, Tri-Rail received a budget of $84.8 million for double tracking, building extensions, improving stations, establishing a headquarters, and linking to buses.
In 2001, Tri-Rail unveiled its "blue skies, white clouds, and palm tree" livery. Previously, Tri-Rail's passenger coaches were painted in the same green and white scheme used by GO Transit in Canada.
In 2002, Tri-Rail began to upgrade its grade crossings to include raised medians and/or four quadrant gates to prevent cars from driving around them in an attempt to beat trains. This decreases accidents and allows the cities they run through to petition for them not to use their whistle between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. They also decreased headways to 20 minutes during rush hours.
In 2007, a project to upgrade the full length of the line from Mangonia Park to Miami Airport with double track was completed with the opening of a high-level fixed bridge over the New River near Fort Lauderdale. During the 2000s, most of the stations were completely rebuilt to accommodate for double-tracking and include dual platforms, elevators, pedestrian bridges over the tracks, large roofs over the platforms, and better facilities.
In March 2006, Tri-Rail went from 30 passenger trains a day to 40 trains; the completion of the New River rail bridge, the double-tracking project, and the addition of a second Colorado Railcar diesel multiple unit (DMU) ushered in sweeping changes to Tri-Rail's operational timetables. Tri-Rail added several more trains during peak weekday commuting hours in June 2007, increasing to the current 50 trains per day, as well as increasing weekend service. During "rush-hour," trains ran every twenty to thirty minutes rather than the previous schedule of every hour. This change comes at quite a fortuitous time in Tri-Rail's operation history. With gasoline prices at record highs—particularly in South Florida's sprawling metropolis—Tri-Rail saw a double-digit percentage increase in ridership in mid-2007. By 2009, annual ridership had reached about 4.2 million passengers. This was also the time during which work was being done on I-95 to add the express lanes from the Golden Glades Interchange to the Airport Expressway near Downtown Miami. In 2007, Veolia Transport commenced operating the Tri-Rail service under a contract that ran until June 2017.
20092022: Growth and airport station
In 2009, Tri-Rail service was nearly cut drastically, with the threat of being shut down altogether by 2011, even as ridership was at a record high, as Palm Beach County withheld its funding of the system and looked to cut its funding from $4.1 million to $1.6 million per year. This would mean that Broward and Miami-Dade counties would also have had to cut their support to $1.6 million each to match. The state, which was also running a budget shortfall and did not pass a rental car tax increase to help fund Tri-Rail, would have had to cut its support as well. This would have caused an immediate cut from 50 to 30 daily trains and a complete cutting weekend service, followed by additional cuts and possible shut down two years later. Schedules were decreased slightly, but service was never cut altogether, as dedicated federal funding was attained through the $2.5 million grant as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009.
After a 25% fare increase in mid-2009, annual ridership dropped by 15% (about 600,000) in 2010. However, in 2011, Tri-Rail again saw increasing ridership due to sustained high gas prices, averaging about 14,500 riders per weekday by the end of year. Throughout the year, ridership increased at a rate of about 11% per month, paired with a decline in automobile travel and an increase in employment, with 285 companies and 2,829 individuals joining in the discount program.
In 2011, the dilapidated Pompano Beach station received a $5.7 million federal grant, to be redone as a "green station," generating more than 100% of its energy demand through solar power, with the excess to be sent to the grid or stored for nighttime lighting. Construction started in spring 2012 with the station remaining open during construction. The crossing of Race Track Road and the Tri-Rail line near the Pompano Beach station, rough for several years, was also repaired in 2012.
In early 2012, it was announced that a second Tri-Rail station in Boca Raton was once again being considered at the busy intersection of Glades Road (S.R. 808) and Military Trail (S.R. 809), near Town Center Mall, Florida Atlantic University and large office parks. A station was proposed for this location in the early 2000s while many other stations were being renovated. Boca Raton station near Yamato Road (S.R. 794) is the busiest station in the system as of 2014, with 1,600 riders a day, surpassing the Tri-Rail and Metrorail transfer station in Miami-Dade County. For this reason, and the fact that Glades Road is considered the most congested road in the county, an infill station there has been long considered. However, in 2019, plans for the station were ultimately canceled by the city and Tri-Rail.
Total ridership on the system fully recovered to earlier high levels in fiscal year 2013, to 4.2 million. Tri-Rail wanted to double ridership by 2021 to 30,000 daily riders by building the Coastal Link.
In April 2015, the Miami Airport station opened at the Miami Intermodal Center, once again connecting Tri-Rail directly with the Miami International Airport for the first time since the original Miami Airport station closed in 2011. This new station has connections to MIA Mover (providing a direct link to the airport), Metrorail, Metrobus and Greyhound. After extensive delays, Amtrak has yet to move its operations from its current station. This new station was under construction since 2009, with a September 2011 closure of the original Miami Airport station to allow for construction of the new station.
On January 27, 2017, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority Governing Board voted to award Herzog Transit Services a $511 million, 10-year contract to operate Tri-Rail beginning in July 2017. The board disqualified the other five bidders (Amtrak, Bombardier, First Transit, SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit and incumbent operator Transdev), stating that they had all submitted "conditional" prices despite the request for proposals mandating that the bid price be final. The other five losing bidders all protested the contract, with Transdev, Bombardier, and First Transit jointly requesting a court injunction to prevent it from being awarded.
2023present: Livery redesign and MiamiCentral service
In the first quarter of 2023, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) reported a 25% increase in Tri-Rail ridership, surpassing 350,000 riders for the first time in three years. To meet the demand, the SFRTA began an overhaul process with their Brookville locomotives, which was anticipated to be completed by 2025, and received a federal grant that will allow the replacement of a third of the aging fleet of railcars with new ones, which are expected to start service in the coming years. In addition, the SFRTA created a new livery design, which debuted in time for the Tri-Rail service into MiamiCentral.
Tri-Rail service to MiamiCentral (Tri-Rail Downtown Miami Link) began service on January 13, 2024. The station, which is also a mixed-use complex, is located in Downtown Miami and includes direct access to Brightline as well as Miami-Dade Transit services. The initial service consists of a shuttle service between Metrorail Transfer station and MiamiCentral, but a MiamiCentral Express train has since been added, running from MiamiCentral to West Palm Beach station. To continue traveling north or south, a transfer is required. It marks the first time Tri-Rail trains use Florida East Coast's trackage for service. Tri-Rail trains switch to the FEC's Little River Branch on the Iris Connection south of Metrorail Transfer station and head east to the FEC mainline, where they turn south and head to Downtown Miami. Tri-Rail trains began testing the corridor on June 19, 2023. The total cost of accommodating Tri-Rail trains in MiamiCentral was about $70 million.