Game-changing grant bringing Tri-Rail one-third new locomotives, cars

Fueled by a new federal grant, Tri-Rail is on track to replace nearly a third of its engines and passenger cars with brand-new equipment.

“I don’t use the word gamechanger often, but this is a gamechanger,” said David Dech, the veteran railroad executive who last year became executive director of Tri-Rail’s parent, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority.

The federal government announced Friday that the 72-mile-long rail service linking Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties is being awarded $71.7 million to buy 24 new rail vehicles and locomotives to replace its older ones as they near the end of their useful life.

That money is part of the $180 million that will be invested in the new equipment, said Mr. Dech. The balance is a local match among multiple governments.

Don’t expect the new equipment immediately. Mr. Dech said it will be three years before passengers can use the first new cars and up to five years before all the new equipment is in use.

That means, he told Miami Today, that Tri-Rail will begin serving downtown Miami well before it gets new equipment. He has estimated the long-awaited downtown service can finally start in November.

The grant from the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration was one of six for new suburban and commuter rail vehicles to replace equipment that is more than 25 years old, said federal transit Administrator Nuria Fernandez.

“This program focuses mainly on medium-sized transit agencies that lack the funding they need to address overdue improvements,” she said in a press notice. Other transit agencies funded for new equipment purchases are in Cleveland, Chicago, Salt Lake City, St. Louis and Sacramento.

“These are long-term procurements,” Mr. Dech explained. “I wish it was as easy as buying a car.”

None of the equipment for Tri-Rail is yet on order and vendors have yet to be selected, Mr. Dech said. “We want to look at what similarities are out there” with the needs of other local train operations that are now in the market, because there are economies of scale in ordering similar rolling stock, keeping the prices lower for all buyers.

These will be significant investments, Mr. Dech explained, because a locomotive can cost $6 million to $8 million. Tri-Rail already owns 26 locomotives of three types, he said.

He told his organization’s board last month that one by one Tri-Rail is having the 12 Brookville locomotives upgraded, easing their use on the new downtown Miami leg of the line. Four of these are now ready to roll.

Twelve other Tri-Rail locomotives, the EMD F40PH model build by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division between 1975 and 1992, were rebuilt two years ago, Mr. Dech said on Friday.

While Tri-Rail has not chosen where to order or what to buy, he said his team is looking at what is now available in the market – a very limited market of rail manufacturers.

The goal of the purchases, he said, will be to improve the experiences of Tri-Rail’s riders, now 12,500 daily and growing.

Other than safety, he said, one concern is comfort. Another is simply “not breaking down,” because people depend on trains to get them where they want to go on time, whether it be to school or to catch a plane.

“Reliability is the key,” he said.

When it does arrive, the new equipment won’t look like today’s Tri-Rail no matter what cars and locomotives are chosen. Designs of new exteriors for all cars and locomotives replacing those in use since 2001 were announced in mid-April and shown in Miami Today.

“The design was chosen to overlay advertising opportunities that can help garner additional revenues for the agency,” board member and Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado said then.

Mr. Dech said the new multi-color design will be wrapped around the new passenger cars on locomotives later on, so “they will have the new livery.”

“These grants will help bring riders faster, safer, more reliable service on America’s rails,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in the grant announcement.

Those involved in securing that grant, Mr. Dech said, include Tri-Rail’s internal planning group, its state and federal consultants, the Florida Department of Transportation, as well as the transportation organizations of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

“It is a pleasure to be here,” he said, “and have people all working in one direction.”