South East Florida Corridor Study (FEC Tri-Rail)

[South Florida]

Originally Posted by mr jones

Simplified...

This is Why I Support an FEC passanger Rail service...

Connects Directly to Metromover and Metrorail and Metrobus at Miami's Governments Center.

Connects to Broward's Transit Center where People will be able to Transfer to the Wave Streetcar (2014) and the Broward East West Streetcar (2017+)

Connects to Tri-Rail at Pompano Beach and West Palm Beach...



Passes through all Major And Minor South Florida Towns and Cites

[xerxesjc28]

This is soooo awesome. It makes so much sense I can't believe it has not been done already.

Originally Posted by South Florida

This is Why I Support an FEC passanger Rail service...

Connects Directly to Metromover and Metrorail and Metrobus at Miami's Governments Center.

Connects to Broward's Transit Center where People will be able to Transfer to the Wave Streetcar (2014) and the Broward East West Streetcar (2017+)

Connects to Tri-Rail at Pompano Beach and West Palm Beach...



Passes through all Major And Minor South Florida Towns and Cites

I have a question for you all, lets just imagine that there are the funds and the will to build this thing, should it stop at Miami or extend all the way down to the keys? Could or would it make any sense to extend passenger rail service all the way down to Key West, like it used to be decades ago until it got destroyed by a Hurricane?

[diablo234]

Originally Posted by xerxesjc28

I have a question for you all, lets just imagine that there are the funds and the will to build this thing, should it stop at Miami or extend all the way down to the keys? Could or would it make any sense to extend passenger rail service all the way down to Key West, like it used to be decades ago until it got destroyed by a Hurricane?

I don't see the rail line being extended all the way to the Florida Keys since there is no real demand for any rail service there, plus you would have to build several new bridges since the original allignment is now taken up by U.S 1.

Anyways I hope commuter rail service gets restored on the FEC. Honestly the Tri-Rail should have been built along this alignment rather than further west in the first place.

[South Florida]

Originally Posted by xerxesjc28

This is soooo awesome. It makes so much sense I can't believe it has not been done already.



I have a question for you all, lets just imagine that there are the funds and the will to build this thing, should it stop at Miami or extend all the way down to the keys? Could or would it make any sense to extend passenger rail service all the way down to Key West, like it used to be decades ago until it got destroyed by a Hurricane?

An FEC Line terminating at Government Center makes the most Sense.... From that Station you can connect to Metrorail And metromover.....

And a Train to Key West doesn't seem viable as it is a long distance and it is very expensive + not that much demand.

[CalleOchoGringo]

Am I the only person on this thread that thinks this line has WAY too many stations? It will take forever for someone to get from PB or Broward to Dade on this thing if having to stop every 20 city blocks. What will be the average speed after all the stops at stations (not to mention slowdowns when approaching and speed up's when pulling out of stations) 15mph?

Geez get rid of some of these stations please. Don't make Tri-rail cardinal sin #1 all over again! People are (mostly) already going to have to drive to get to a park-and-ride station anyway in our mostly suburbanly build tri-cities area, whats another 20 block to them in their cars. But don't punish the passengers of the train by making them not want to use this as a commuting option because they now have to get up 2 hours earlier to be at work on time.

I say 3 stations in Miami (Govt Center, Midtown, Aventura), and about that many with about that amount of spacing in Broward and WPB too. You will still get as many riders willing to park and ride (in fact probably alot more since it will be fast enough to compete with their cars on I-95 at getting them to their work destination).

[miami305]

Well...is not a HSR....plus how long does it stay/wait at each station?

[UrbanImpact]

Broward's should be Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano. Palm Beach County is so huge and the least urban........I don't think it should go all the way up past The Gardens.

[xerxesjc28]

Originally Posted by miami305

Well...is not a HSR....plus how long does it stay/wait at each station?

Well the time adds up. I rode the tri-rail for the first time recently and the time at stations can vary greatly from a 1 min or 2 towards 5 minutes, though the 5 minutes one was unusual.

What they could do is make many stops on the eastern line and leave the more western line for farther trips having fewer stops.

[CalleOchoGringo]

Originally Posted by miami305

Well...is not a HSR....plus how long does it stay/wait at each station?

Yeah I know it's not HSR but still, they gotta be careful with overenthusiasm on the stations. I know I'm being picky but I want it build right so it will work right and show not just South Florida but the rest of the US how well rail travel can work for getting you short-medium distances. Not just become another boondoggle and political piñata.

[UMdev]

Originally Posted by CalleOchoGringo

Am I the only person on this thread that thinks this line has WAY too many stations? It will take forever for someone to get from PB or Broward to Dade on this thing if having to stop every 20 city blocks. What will be the average speed after all the stops at stations (not to mention slowdowns when approaching and speed up's when pulling out of stations) 15mph?

Geez get rid of some of these stations please. Don't make Tri-rail cardinal sin #1 all over again! People are (mostly) already going to have to drive to get to a park-and-ride station anyway in our mostly suburbanly build tri-cities area, whats another 20 block to them in their cars. But don't punish the passengers of the train by making them not want to use this as a commuting option because they now have to get up 2 hours earlier to be at work on time.

I say 3 stations in Miami (Govt Center, Midtown, Aventura), and about that many with about that amount of spacing in Broward and WPB too. You will still get as many riders willing to park and ride (in fact probably alot more since it will be fast enough to compete with their cars on I-95 at getting them to their work destination).

Have you actually looked at the study? The current recommendation is to have rapid bus, light rail, rapid rail and regional rail all run through the FEC corridor. So you can have rapid rail (metrorail) make shorter stops while the regional rail make fewer stops (tri-rail).

[CalleOchoGringo]

Lol, I have scanned through it yes. But no I haven't intimately memorized all 50+ pages of it. Sorry I have more important things to do on weekends. :P

Or were you referring to the 3 page pdf with just the station types on it? I didn't notice all that in there.


None the less I was arguing that even the amount of stops on the Tri-rail is too many. I took the tri-rail once to get from north Broward to tri-rail metrorail station to get home. Bottom line it took me over an hour and a half to get home (that same commute by car takes me 35 mins in traffic). I have never again had the desire to use the tri-rail. And I am a faithful metrorail user mind you, who would use it any chance I got when it does go where i need it to, not some mass transit hating SUV driving suburbanite.

Bottome line, consumers don't care about the method, they just want to not be so grossly inconvenienced or they won't use a mass transit system at all. No matter how fast, sleek or shiny it is. I think we can all agree on that.

[Miami High Rise]

So this is basically a proposal for another Tri-Rail located east of the current one?

[goten2255]

on thursday july 14 2011 i passed by overtown i was walking there and then i saw the FEC company constructioning new ties and i saw two freight railway cars and i also saw some passenger cars on the FEC route where the miami arena was at?

i been curious does that mean its getting closer to an FEC Tri rail route? and if so will Tri rail expand to other areas in the tri country like west of Miami and south of miami to homestead, florida city, west of broward and also west and north of west palm beach???

will all this be possible since Metrorail cannot expand anymore we need alternatives and fast.

[Miami High Rise]

What you saw was the renovation of the freight link between the port and the Hialeah railyard, which MAY get used for a passenger service, but is not planned.

[goten2255]

oh so thats what i saw well if its a rennovation then thats a promising thing because rennovating a railway track means it would be ready for it which means passenger and freight railways can use it.

i hope the FEC is used for tri rail overthere its badly needed, i hope negoations happen with FEC railway and tri rail to run both there services on it.

we need more cooperation with freight railways and passenger railways.

[FTL Beach Bum]

Originally Posted by goten2255

oh so thats what i saw well if its a rennovation then thats a promising thing because rennovating a railway track means it would be ready for it which means passenger and freight railways can use it.

i hope the FEC is used for tri rail overthere its badly needed, i hope negoations happen with FEC railway and tri rail to run both there services on it.

we need more cooperation with freight railways and passenger railways.

As they renovate the port lead from Little River to downtown, they will be relocating the freight track to one side of the corridor to make room for future passenger rail trackage:




Source (Also includes information on the entire renovation)


Reconstruction of the freight trackage is already underway. Once the port bridge is repaired, they will be able to move in materials to complete the new intermodal terminal on Dodge Island. Expected project completion in two years.

Here's a video of the groundbreaking ceremony near Government Center, with some great vintage footage of FEC in Miami.

[Miami High Rise]

Oh, wow, I'm surprised to hear they're moving the whole track and one or even two passenger lines are proposed. But I guess if there's money floating around, might as well grab it! After all, it's a TIGER II grant, that's not taxpayer's money, is it? Besides, the federal government's doin' fine...

[skyscraperhighrise]

Originally Posted by Miami High Rise

Oh, wow, I'm surprised to hear they're moving the whole track and one or even two passenger lines are proposed. But I guess if there's money floating around, might as well grab it! After all, it's a TIGER II grant, that's not taxpayer's money, is it? Besides, the federal government's doin' fine...

That's Taxpayer's money,we have to pay for it.

[Miami High Rise]

I know, I'm being sarcastic. Hey, Ron Paul is gonna run, by the way.


The "money floating around, might as well grab it," and the "grant vs tax money" tthing are from John Stossel's "the money hole" that was on over the weekend.

[South Florida]

Any updates on the FEC Study itself?