Tri-Rail to Miami Central and (Miami) Northeast Corridor

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They're going to run Tri-Rail trains between Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston? I know that some commuter operators would like to get rid of Amtrak operating their trains, but Amtrak getting rid of Amtrak is a little ridiculous. :)
No. Since the context is Miami Tri-Rail, it is referring to the Miami Northeast Corridor Commuter Line. Amtrak is not involved in any way. Brightline and FECR and of course the Florida Dispatching Company are involved as provider of infrastructure and dispatching for Tr-Rail trains. Initial segment will be Miami Central to Aventura, later to be extended throughout Broward County.
 
Finally, although I don’t understand why the shuttle train goes Downtown. The shuttle should go to the Airport and the direct one seat ride Downtown.
That all depends on ridership of each leg south of Metrorail transfer. As well, It may require one more shuttle train sets to go to downtown Miami. How many cars on the shuttle trains if just one???
 
Yeah, I thought the shuttle train thing was odd. It is how Grand Central Madison started. Sometimes the Heat likes to play the Knicks - in other words, Miami pays a lot of attention to NY. Well, just thought I'd mention that.

So the announced frequency will be about half of the frequency north of Hialeah and the speculation on Facebook is that the airport frequency will be cut down, with half its trains shuttling downtown instead. Or that the shuttle is only for a training period. Not clear anyone knows, and the press release comes out a week before service saying the schedule will be released a week before service. 🦩

Other than reduced airport frequency, the grumbling is about overloaded trains, a la NJT.

The fare is currently $9 to West Palm, about half of Brightline's lowest bucket. The current weekday schedule starts at 3:50am! Miami Central Station may have to change its hours.
 
Finally, although I don’t understand why the shuttle train goes Downtown. The shuttle should go to the Airport and the direct one seat ride Downtown.
I think LIRR's adjustments in New York related to Grand Central Madison and the backlash to them showed that it's important to phase in these kinds of operating changes gradually and not force the riders on to a new operating model too quickly. While this is of course a very different situation it's still prudent to roll changes like this out in phases. Isn't the eventual goal that both will eventually see through service from Palm Beach county and the train schedule will be split between the two termini?
 
I think LIRR's adjustments in New York related to Grand Central Madison and the backlash to them showed that it's important to phase in these kinds of operating changes gradually and not force the riders on to a new operating model too quickly. While this is of course a very different situation it's still prudent to roll changes like this out in phases. Isn't the eventual goal that both will eventually see through service from Palm Beach county and the train schedule will be split between the two termini?
I would say the similarities between LIRR and Tri-Rail begin and end at the addition of 1 endpoint and a few miles of new track. Beyond that I don’t think it’s possible to compare the two systems or extensions. The last Tri-Rail ridership report that I can find is from May 2019 and the two busiest stations in Dade County are Metrorail Transfer and the Airport. They both had roughly the same number of passengers getting on daily but the Airport had ten thousand more people getting off. Maybe those are all people going to the airport or transferring to Metrobus. Or maybe those are people getting on Metrorail at the Airport for the relatively shorter ride Downtown. Coincidentally Hialeah Market has the lowest ridership of any station in the system.

I may be drawing conclusions from the data that aren’t possible and I’m sure Tri-Rail knows more than some dude sitting on his couch. I just find it curious.

As for the final plan I have no idea what it is. I think I read they intend on having half the trains go to Downtown and half to the airport but I can’t remember where I read it or provide a link. So it’s entirely possible I made that up.
 
I think LIRR's adjustments in New York related to Grand Central Madison and the backlash to them showed that it's important to phase in these kinds of operating changes gradually and not force the riders on to a new operating model too quickly. While this is of course a very different situation it's still prudent to roll changes like this out in phases. Isn't the eventual goal that both will eventually see through service from Palm Beach county and the train schedule will be split between the two termini?
I think that splitting the one-seat rides between the two makes sense (Tri-Rail probably also wants a sense of ridership between the two termini before committing). Also, if the time to the airport vs Miami Central is significantly different, it could do something to equipment needs or mess with the timetable.

Sending all of the on-the-hour trains out of Magonia Park one way and the others the other way (with shuttle assistance to the un-covered terminus) might make sense...but I'd need to look more closely at probable equipment needs to be sure of how that would/wouldn't work.
 
OK... Get that the article says "ceremonial", but when do they intend to actually run service along BL's ROW? Currently they only operate between Metrorail Transfer and MiamiCentral. They aren't even offering thru service - just the two different trains. How hard would it be to make every other train from Magnolia Park serve downtown and the other half to the airport? Perhaps this is more efficient, but folks prefer one-seat rides.

They really haven't done much. If you have to transfer at Metrorail anyway, you've always been able to do that to the Green line. So, yeah, congrats on the ceremonial train departure, but nothing functionally has changed for the straphanger other than perhaps a little bit of a nicer ride for the 10 minutes or so from Metrorail Transfer to Downtown Miami.
 
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So, yeah, congrats on the ceremonial train departure, but nothing functionally has changed for the straphanger other than perhaps a little bit of a nicer ride for the 10 minutes or so from Metrorail Transfer to Downtown Miami.
It‘s not an extra $2.25 like Metrorail, a same platform connection without fare gates or stairs, and an express ride that doesn’t make a half dozen other stops where delays can accumulate. Both services block it out at 20 minutes on the schedule, but only one of them is putting in the effort to sync up with the inter-city Tri-Rail, which is significant going North.
 
I imagine that number of thru trains to downtown will depend on number of passengers wanting to go there. It could be as low as 25% trains to 75% trains to downtown. Tri Rail will have to wait to see what ridership is. Also, rush hour trains may be different than thru the day and weekends??
 
I imagine that number of thru trains to downtown will depend on number of passengers wanting to go there. It could be as low as 25% trains to 75% trains to downtown. Tri Rail will have to wait to see what ridership is. Also, rush hour trains may be different than thru the day and weekends??
IIRC, the EIS said half the train as in alternate trains go downtown eventually, Of course that could change. I guess one could get at least a feel how many take the Southbound transfer to Metro at Metro Transfer.
 
Commuters are creatures of habits. Adjusting times and routes will cause issues for them. A shuttle is a good idea to gauge interest and see if the commuters will embrace these changes. To just run trains ad hoc between two final locations will result in a very big drop of riders. Commuters need stable and reliable transportation. If it does not provide door to door. Frequency service, conditions and connections are important.

Additional bonus is a shuttle will provides an easy way for staff to learn the new route.
 
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Commuters are creatures of habits. Adjusting times and routes will cause issues for them. A shuttle is a good idea to gauge interest and see if the commuters will embrace these changes. To just run trains ad hoc between two final locations will result in a very big drop of riders. Commuters need stable and reliable transportation. If it does not provide door to door. Frequency service, conditions and connections are important.

Additional bonus is a shuttle will provides an easy way for staff to learn the new route.
Commuters are creatures of habit and changing their commuting pattern can be problematic. The LIRR and their commuters recently experienced this. Changing a hundred year old commuting pattern is problematic but this isn’t that. Tri-Rail is only a little over 30 years old and the extension is a one stop affair that goes where most of their travelers are ultimately headed. I don’t think running through trains will alter the commuting patterns too much.
 
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