Blindfolded Tri-Rail leaders can’t see where they’re going
Tri-Rail’s pledge to bring regional rail downtown is finally on track after years of delay to roll in 2022, its executive director told Miami Today three weeks ago. We then told South Florida’s readers.
Our apologies. It seem that while Steven Abrams was telling us things were hunky-dory, he’d known of problems since March. It’s now clear that the public rail service’s trains are too wide, and perhaps too heavy, to enter the station.
He not only misled readers, he failed to tell his own tri-county, 10-member board. He said Tuesday he told them in March of problems but while structural engineers studied massive issues he never told the board of the scope, including not fitting the station, until last week. Some board members are livid.
“I certainly wasn’t sitting on anything,” he told Miami Today on Tuesday, but he agrees that he didn’t update the board on the problems after March.
“As far as bringing Tri-Rail’s trains directly into downtown Miami, we continue to coordinate with Brightline [the private line whose station would be used] to ensure our trains can access their tracks and are optimistic at the prospect of running this service sometime in 2022,” Mr. Abrams told Miami Today by e-mail in November.
But he knew since April that while Brightline has cleared use of its tracks, the steps at Tri-Rail trains’ doors would stick out a few inches too far and hit the Miami station’s platform. Moreover, the trains may be too heavy to use a viaduct that leads into Brightline’s station downtown.
Mr. Abrams points out that construction was by Brightline, not Tri-Rail. Now everyone will be looking to blame someone else for enormous errors.
We reported in 2014 that it would cost almost $70 million to connect Tri-Rail from its Hialeah terminal to Brightline’s Central Station downtown. Governments paid the lion’s share of that; Brightline paid the rest.
It was supposed to be a done deal. The only hitch was installing Positive Train Control, required for safety. That’s now being tested for both rail services.
That’s what board members of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority knew until Friday. They probably read Mr. Abrams’ comments to Miami Today that the board was “eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the negotiations between Miami-Dade County and Brightline regarding the operations of commuter rail on the Florida East Coast corridor,” a separate new service that the county is negotiating to begin. “We are confident that Tri-Rail is the right operator for the job and we have let the county know that we stand ready to operate when the time comes.”
How ready to operate when trains can’t even enter the main station on the route? How ready when Mr. Abrams now says it’s not clear how to fix the problem that’s been staring Tri-Rail in the face since last spring. He told us the trains’ steps might need alteration or Brightline might have to rebuild the platforms.
Either way, not only has Tri-Rail misled the public for months but Mr. Abrams didn’t tell his own board that a problem the size of an elephant sat right in the middle of the tracks.
If the county even considers Tri-Rail now to operate a new commuter service it will be off the rails. You can’t run commuter rail if you can’t get to the station.
Tri-Rail board members were kept in the dark when their wisdom might have helped resolve a disaster that is now thundering their way. The board was clueless while the leader took months to reveal setbacks.
Regardless of who made any engineering or construction mistakes, if the board can’t rely on its paid leader (a lawyer and former board member) to at least tell them promptly when there is a peril, what else might be hidden?
If I were on the board I’d want a leader to point to dangers and be able to offer solutions rather than saying publicly that everything is fine as the train thunders toward an open bridge with no engineer at the throttle.
What a way to run a railroad!
Cully Waggoner
December 15, 2021 at 11:41 am
The problem is of all the people involved with the project they didn’t do some basic math and calculate the weight of a Brightline train compared to the weight of a Tri-Rail train. Nor take into consideration the differences in the rolling stock.
However, this is not the first time a new train station in Miami was poorly designed. Look at what happened with the MIA Intermodal Station, they didn’t bother to measure the length of an Amtrak train when they designed the platform and made it too short.
Tri-Rail carries more than twice the passenger capacity of Brightline per car, but only runs 3 cars to Brightline’s 4 cars.
Tri-Rail runs a Locomotive on one end and a Cab Car on the other, while Brightline runs locomotives on both ends of the train. A Locomotive is more than twice the weight of a Cab Car.
Brightline has run double trainsets for their The Polar Express trains in the past, and will add more cars to the trainsets that will go from Miami to Orlando, so perhaps the heavier Tri-Rail trains are not that big a deal. It depends upon what load that viaduct into Miami Central is rated to support.
The real issue is the Tri-Rail operates with at grade platforms meaning you step up to get into the car. Brightline operates with door level grade platforms like MetroRail does so you just step into the car at platform level.
If Tri-Rail modifies the cars for Miami Central Station, how will that affect the other stations that Tri-Rail already has. Rather than cut the new platforms at Miami Central to fit they should consider just raising the tracks at the platform instead. How are the new Stations for Coastal Link being designed for both Tri-Rail and Brightline trains, will they have the same issue as well.
Ernest Bellamy
December 15, 2021 at 1:22 pm
This news really breaks my heart. I was so looking forward to the day Tri-rail could really enhance its quality of accessibility & access with such an easy win by finally connecting to a downtown, in this regard the region’s strongest, Downtown Miami.
More broadly, this revelation erodes the overall public’s trust in transit, as well as leaders who should be advocating for the best outcome of the public funds. What are the challenges are past-tense in this matter (as they were known for quite some time); how can we fix this and get things back on track should have been what the executive director should have brought to the Board.
This, unfortunately, continues a pattern of mismanagement that has plagued the past decade-plus of major decision-making for Multimodal stations in our region.
Looking back most notably at Miami Intermodal Center’s Train station (Miami Airport Station) which was to bring together multiple bus and rail services at the Airport. For Rail: Tri-Rail, Amtrak, and Metrorail, all at a centralized Hub. While Tri-rail and Metrorail have successfully arrived, proper construction oversight and a lack of any agency owning the fault and rectifying problems has led to unusable too-short for service tracks for Amtrak. A waste of hard-earned public dollars with unusable platforms and no clear fix in sight, leaving Amtrak to continue using an outdated poorly accessible terminus station miles north.
Overall, Miami Intermodal Center stands underserved and fragmented from allowing for a broader integrated regional transportation network to exist.
And now this.
I can’t understand how news like this can be held back from a Board entrusted to provide equitable and reliable commuter rail transit to the Tri-County region. If an executive director cannot be honest and forthcoming enough with the public, the press, and then their own board, they should step aside for a new executive director who can be more visionary, willing to steer the organization through the tough decisions; the tough questions they need to answer, and towards a better direction of an integrated regional transit in South Florida.
Beyond a changing of the guard, a blame game over who during construction didn’t read the plans and spec’s properly won’t get us anywhere beyond typical finger-pointing with no action we are accustomed to (see again, Miami Intermodal Center).
The ultimate and only question here is: When will this be fixed.
Elliot
December 16, 2021 at 4:23 pm
Even to the untrained eye it was obvious that the Tri Rail trains were big and bulky when compared to Brightlines sleek and streamlined trains. Tri Rail trains could use an upgrade going into this 22nd century.
E
December 16, 2021 at 10:40 pm
Well if you follow the money, whose interests benefit most from this “tri-rail’ snafu? Brightline, of course. I used to work for them and know they have been trying every trick in the book to keep a competitor from coming in to Miami Central.
E2
January 28, 2022 at 4:13 pm
You are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT follow the money the top Directors getting 40%raises on tax payer dollars and and can’t tell the Board the TRUTH Mmmmi wonder why. Follow ALL THE MONEY
Raidel Oviedo
December 19, 2021 at 8:02 am
Good morning. I hope the people of miami, our politicians, the leaders supposed to represent us and everyone involved that care about this embarrassment, not the first one when it comes to trains and massive transport projects in the area, really get involved and do not let this slide. If miami ever dreams of becoming a global city, and a city that comes to people’s mind for other than beach and party, we need the infrastructure to support it. If we ever dream of bringing world scale events and summits to our town, it is time to make it ready for it. Let’s start by holding accountable the ones responsible for this. If we are such a hot market for developers and tech companies, let them come but not for free, ask them in exchange contribute to a public transportation that works, that is functional and a real alternative to the mess of our roads. We will always have cars, so yes, and all for keeping our roads, but enough of car dealers owners and their lobbyists dictate how our city is built. Enough of politicians accepting bribes and just having their minute of fame. We need our true leaders to rise up to the occasion and the times for really building a city that is not only beautiful and fun but also that moves, functions, it is safe, reliable.
See how museum park is nothing compared to what was planned.
The river walk and bay walk are both broken gaps of, if anything, a narrow sidewalk.
I hope the drop the ball again with the heritage trail underneath the signature bridge.
Please, the world is full of cities with amazing train systems, even in developing nations. Go out there and study it and just do it. We need it. The ridership will happen. It will happen when it works, when it takes me to where I’m going on time, without changing to three different modes of transportation that do not connect, when it is affordable, when it is safe, reliable, when somehow includes alternatives for the last mile, etc.
a couple of examples:
Our bus stops are a joke, sometimes just a pole for an afternoon in august, that’s torture.
Imagine a tourist with luggage landing at MIA, going to south beach. Based on the actual plans:
It would take the metro, then the mover to the link to south beach and once there an Uber or trolley or whatever to the final destination.
Robert
December 20, 2021 at 12:44 pm
The passenger rail industry is a failure and the only way it exists is because of taxpayers
BFW
January 6, 2022 at 5:09 pm
Having 30+ years in the Rail Industry a few things I can tell you about new projects are:
a) Engineers cannot read tape measures.
b) Designers, Project Managers and Engineering firms know everything about Railroads and will not accept help or advice. At All.
c) Laws should be enacted to keep Politicians away from anything with Rails.
Railroads are not complicated. Railroads have been around decades longer than highways and cars.
Think about running your Dream Railroad by some salty old Veteran Railroaders, you might learn a thing or two and save a few hundred million dollars while you are at it.