I guess we can forge all the Tri-Rail news & maps here then since we didn't have a thread for it before or it got deleted.
A suggestion would be to retitle the name of this thread since people may not know where Tri-Rail is.
SE Florida Tri-Rail Commuter News would be a suggestion.
Let's start with this map of the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) just east of MIA from 2010:
^
http://www.micdot.com/mic_program/pr...5-07_Demo4.jpg
The dotted lines represent the Tri-Rail line which terminates at the MIC. However as you can see the CSX Railroad tracks for freight cargo continue south after the MIC station and the track that turns right onto NW 21st. is the route that will take the Tri-Rail trains downtown and connect with All Aboard Florida's FEC's railroad tracks in downtown Miami.
The track that turns left is the one Miami-Dade county want to use or purchase for it's east-west commuter line:
http://cdn.cstatic.net/gridnailer/50...9-RailPlan.jpg
http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...30.13%20PM.jpg
CSX Just Made East-West Rail Line a Lot More Expensive
Wednesday, August 5, 2015, by Sean McCaughan
"CSX just made an 11 mile east-west Tri-Rail or Metrorail line along its Miami International Airport-bordering rail tracks significantly more expensive than the bargain basement $102 million estimated construction cost of the project, reports the Miami Herald. They don't want to rent or provide usage of the tracks to anybody. They want to sell them to the State of Florida for fair market value and still be allowed exclusive and perpetual freight usage of the tracks, with Florida paying the entire maintenance bill.
This is exactly how Tri-Rail and Sunrail were created, on former CSX trackage, so CSX obviously considers it reasonable, with one crucial difference: They want Florida to buy an additional 24 miles of track that extends down to Homestead. The Herald estimates the cost of the entire 35 miles to be $245 million, based on the cost of SunRail, but that was in Orlando where land is cheaper, so that might be a rather modest estimate. Perhaps this additional trackage could be used for an extension of Tri-Rail too?"
^
http://miami.curbed.com/archives/201...-doral-csx.php
What if Tri-Rail Extended All the Way to Homestead?
"This map, taken from the system map of the CSX Railway, shows the extent of the CSX-owned rail trackage south and west of Miami International Airport, which CSX is proposing to sell to the State of Florida to expand Tri-Rail. The dashed blue lines are those which CSX has access to under operating agreements and the solid blue lines are CSX-owned. North of here, CSX doesn't own a thing until Riviera Beach, making CSX's rationale for unloading the rest clearer. Maintenance must be a royal pain. The current idea is only to utilize the trackage extending to Doral and west. Purchasing the trackage extending all the way down to Homestead would be a big commitment, but if more extensively utilized could potentially come with some big advantages for Tri-Rail."
http://miami.curbed.com/tags/railroading
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bikes and trains: Tri-Rail rolling out dedicated bicycle cars
Tri-Rail rolled out its first bike car last Friday. Nine more cars will be added by the end of the year.
Bikes and trains: Tri-Rail rolling out dedicated bicycle cars
July 31, 2015 | Filed in: bnblogs.
Tri-Rail has rolled out its first bike car.
By the end of the year, the commuter train will have 10 cars dedicated for bicycles. The first one was added to Tri-Rail’s fleet last Friday, offering a sneak preview of what bike commuters can look forward to.
People are going to be excited about it. They’ve been asking for it for a long time,’’ said Tri-Rail spokesman Bonnie Arnold.
The new bike car contains 14 racks on one side to allow more room to maneuver bikes on and off the train. The other side of the car will have about 20 seats.
The bike cars are being added to the traditional three-car set, making it a four-set train with additional seating. It is marked with a large bicycle symbol on the outside of the car and makes two runs per day for now.
The other nine bike cars will make two to four runs per day.
Passengers can continue to bring bicycles on board but they still will be limited to two bike straps per car, a limit that high demand made impossible to meet, said Arnold.
“The increase in the number of bikes on a Tri-Rail train is astonishing,’’ said Arnold, who said the heaviest concentration of bike commuters is between Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach in northern Broward County.
“I have seen conductors ask bike riders to wait for the next train because there’s no room.’’
Jesse Bailey, a real estate analyst who runs the Walkable West Palm Beach blog, praised Tri-Rail for adding the bike cars.
“A lot of folks who take Tri-Rail don’t own cars and they rely on other modes of transportation, like bikes,” he said.
“Often the problem with mass transit and Tri-Rail, you arrive at the station but you still need to get to that final destination. This will help make that more seamless.’’
http://theinsider.blog.palmbeachpost...-bicycle-cars/