Miami Intermodal Center at Miami International Airport

[afigg]

Trust me when I say you are simply mistaken.

I don't think he is. I did a skim of the US DOT 2011 Level Boarding ruling which grants exception to platforms adjacent to freight railroad traffic, but not to platforms serving mixed railroads. Here is the September, 2011 Federal Register entry. My interpretation is that if the Miami Central Station were to start construction now, at a minimum there would have to be mini-highs for the Amtrak trains. Since the platforms are much longer than needed for Tri-Rail commuter trains, a mini-high or short high level segment could be placed at one end of the platform with a ramp. The level boarding requirement will complicate building new stations in the east that are outside the NEC and direct connecting corridors.

But this is a moot issue with respect to the MCS.

 

[edjbox]

What will happen to the old Miami station that closes after this one eventually opens?

 

[neroden]

Trust me when I say you are simply mistaken.

I don't think he is.

He is correct. There was a clarification issued in response to questions, in regards to platforms served by equipment with multiple floor heights (IIRC examples are Capitol Limited + Lake Shore Limited, Cascades + Coast Starlight + Sounder, Hiawathas + Empire Builder + Metra, Pacific Surfliner). It is required to be at the level of the lower-floor equipment routinely used. There is no requirement to build a separate platform to serve the second equipment type. This was considering fully shared platform usage, as along an along-the-line station like Glenview or Tukwila.
However, any deviation from full level boarding requires a special station-specific justification be made to the FRA and individually approved (lots of paperwork). You can expect the FRA to routinely approve an ordinary station with a pair of side platforms or an island platform. But if there are enough platforms at a terminal to separate the traffic from the two different types of equipment, as at Miami, the FRA probably *would* ask for one to be high and one to be low.

As for the old station, it will revert to being part of the shops complex.

 

[jis]

Given that it is FRA, I was worrying that they might actually require all platforms in mixed equipment use stations to be built with hydraulic jacks underneath them so that they could be raised or lowered to the car floor level for any train that happen to platform there. They have been known to come up with such impractical Rube Goldberg scheme requirements in regulations in the past after all, so why not again?

As for the current regulations, what GML and neorden say is consistent with my understanding of the situation, as it was explained to me by an Amtrak Chief Engineer who deals with such stuff on the NEC and its tentacles.

 

[edjbox]

I thought that they will tear down the existing Miami station and sell it to a developer

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Nope office space for the Staff. Closed the sleeper lounge early and made it into someone office.

Standard Amtrak Castle. My Kingdom and I rule here. Think Lancaster, PA.

 

[jis]

Ah Amtrak!

 

[neroden]

I thought that they will tear down the existing Miami station and sell it to a developer

It's in the middle of a railroad loop which is part of Amtrak's shops complex; not a great location for development

 

[afigg]

With the re-start of this Miami Central Station thread, I wondered if there was any news on when the MCS might actually open. Found this story in the Miami Herald on May 25, that states that the station is expected to open this fall: Miami airport transit hub on the way to bringing planes, trains, automobiles under one roof. So the June opening date stated earlier in this thread for Tri-Rail service has slid to the fall. Of course, Amtrak may still be planning not to move until months after the new station opens.

 

[FriskyFL]

I thought that they will tear down the existing Miami station and sell it to a developer

It's in the middle of a railroad loop which is part of Amtrak's shops complex; not a great location for development

I was hoping for a 50 story condo tower with stunning views of the Amtrak shops and CSX yard.

 

[neroden]

I thought that they will tear down the existing Miami station and sell it to a developer

It's in the middle of a railroad loop which is part of Amtrak's shops complex; not a great location for development

I was hoping for a 50 story condo tower with stunning views of the Amtrak shops and CSX yard.

"Railfan Central Condos"? "Horns all hours of the day and night -- guaranteed!" ^_^

 

[Bob Dylan]

High Dollar Condos next to the Tracks, No where else but Florida, Denver, Emeryville and Austin!

 

[jis]

Ever noticed the dozens of Condo towers along the NEC and the Morristown Line in New Jersey, and the Hudson and New Haven lines of Metro North? They cost more nearer the station than further away too!

 

[Bob Dylan]

Do those Richie's complain about the Trains like the NIMBYs here in Ausrin and California do???

 

[Barciur]

So anyway... any news on this project? I've been trying to google around but found... nothing useful!

 

[user 1215]

Weird. Website hasn't been updated in 18 months, and the 'captcha' digits don't work when you submit an online comment form.

Maybe the city of Miami went bankrupt and they shut the airport and MIC down.

OK ... per this story, the station will open to Tri-Rail by January. Amtrak to follow "at a later date".

 

[neroden]

Yeesh. Does this win the delay sweepstakes for a fully-funded project? (Obviously projects with incomplete funding tend to be delayed longer.) It seems to be 3 years behind so far.

 

[afigg]

Yeesh. Does this win the delay sweepstakes for a fully-funded project? (Obviously projects with incomplete funding tend to be delayed longer.) It seems to be 3 years behind so far.

MCS is not quite that delayed. According to the article, the original TriRail Miami airport station closed in September, 2011 and it was supposed to take about 2 years to build and open the new Central Station. So a January 2015 opening for TriRail would be a year to a year and a half late.

I did a Google search for news and other than the October Sun-Sentinel article that VentureForth found, didn't find any news updates since May 2014. With the delays and screw-ups, the MIC project and transit agency managers appear to be taking a very low profile approach, presumably hoping that few notice how late the new station is when it opens.

Besides. the Miami Intermodal Center project is not even in the running for the national delay sweepstakes for a fully-funded transit project. They are pikers compared to the East Side Access project in NYC in delays and cost increases. Or the PATH World Trade Center stegosaurus station project.

 

[Barciur]

So I guess it's a fairly safe bet to assume Silver service will be extended to Miami Central Station at some point next year?

 

[afigg]

So I guess it's a fairly safe bet to assume Silver service will be extended to Miami Central Station at some point next year?

If TriRail moves to MCS in January, it is a good bet that Amtrak will shift the Silvers there sometime later in 2015, but I would not consider a sure thing. Could be some remaining road work to be done to handle longer Silver trains or issues in moving station staff to the new location.

 

[user 1215]

Don't forget that part of the delay had to do with what to do about closing 25th street (which IIRC wasn't part of the original plan, but has to be so that the platform can be long enough for the Silvers) and how to turn the train sets around without going through 7 or 8 grade crossings and a major diamond backwards.

I would be interested to know if they have (or plan to) completely restore the wye on the North end of the station.

 

[RampWidget]

Don't forget that part of the delay had to do with what to do about closing 25th street (which IIRC wasn't part of the original plan, but has to be so that the platform can be long enough for the Silvers) and how to turn the train sets around without going through 7 or 8 grade crossings and a major diamond backwards.

I would be interested to know if they have (or plan to) completely restore the wye on the North end of the station.

The short bypass roads for NW 25th St. were almost complete when I visited the MIC last month. Also, even if NW 25th St. is blocked, it's not a major artery, IMHO, and NW 21st St. at the MIC entrance is a viable alternate to NW 25th St.

As far as turning trains is concerned, Amtrak does have second-trick and third-trick switch crews on duty at Hialeah. I imagine it would be easiest just to take the Amtrak yard engine down to the MIC, grab the inbound train, and pull it back to Hialeah, turning it on the loop track at the yard.

 

[afigg]

News update on Miami Central Station from the Miami Herald: Late to the station: Miami rail hub near airport still delayed. Tri-Rail moves to MCS in the spring, Amtrak in the summer of 2016(!). Which is still a wide timeframe window.

The latest holdup are the details of the transfer of the station to the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority which IMO is something that really should have been worked out during construction. The agencies had years to get the insurance and operational issues settled before the station was completed and ready to be turned over. Anyway, excerpts:

Miami Central Station, part of a $2 billion transit center east of Miami International Airport, will now open in two phases: the Tri-Rail station this spring and the Amtrak station in summer 2016, said Ric Katz, a spokesman for the Miami Intermodal Center, known as MIC.

...

The Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, known as MDX, is poised to take over supervision of the MIC from the Florida Department of Transportation, except for the rental car center, which is already managed by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department. The Miami-Dade Aviation Department, which runs the airport, is a county unit.

For months, MDX, which operates some of the county’s busiest toll roads, has been in discussions with the county on the transfer of authority.

“MDX is working with the county on language for a supporting resolution that would allow transfer of the MIC to MDX,” said Mario Diaz, the expressway authority spokesman.

 

[AG1]

I have noticed a lot of people referring to the Miami Intermodal Center as Miami Central Station. I was under the impression that Miami Central Station was to be constructed as part of the All Aboard Florida (Florida East Coast Railway) project and will be located in downtown Miami, not at the airport.

 

[afigg]

I have noticed a lot of people referring to the Miami Intermodal Center as Miami Central Station. I was under the impression that Miami Central Station was to be constructed as part of the All Aboard Florida (Florida East Coast Railway) project and will be located in downtown Miami, not at the airport.

The future Tri-Rail and Amtrak station at the Miami Intermodal Center has long been called the Miami Central Station. See the MIC - MSC website.

All Aboard Florida has come along and is calling their future downtown Miami station, wait for it, MiamiCentral.

Methinks one of them is going to have to pick a new station name.