Miami South Dade Commuter Service

[jis]

Miami Dade County and CSX are talking about using the CSX Homestead Sub for Commuter Service from Miami Intermodal Center

https://www.miamitodaynews.com/2023/12/12/passenger-rail-service-on-track-for-csx-in-south-dade/

 

[Eric S]

Hmm, would such a service likely require restoring the missing connection on the junction just north of Miami Intermodal Center?

 

[jis]

Hmm, would such a service likely require restoring the missing connection on the junction just north of Miami Intermodal Center?

Yes. Then again Amtrak wants to use the Wye to turn their trains to bring them back to Hialeah from MIC.

 

[Literalman]

Is that the same area that has a busway? I was in that area 15 years ago, and maybe everything has changed, but I recall seeing a busway but no buses.

 

[blueman271]

Is that the same area that has a busway? I was in that area 15 years ago, and maybe everything has changed, but I recall seeing a busway but no buses.

The busway runs along US-1 from the Dadeland South Metrorail station to Florida City. It was built in the late nineties and extended in 2007. It is built along abandoned FEC right of way. I’m not sure why you didn’t see buses, maybe you saw the under construction portion.

Commuter rail will make it to Homestead right around the time the Dolphins win a Super Bowl. So never. Publicly funded projects are horribly mismanaged in Dade County as evidenced by the squandering of the half cent transportation tax. Twenty one years ago the people of Dade County decided to tax themselves an extra half cent to fund transportation projects. They were promised 24 hour Metrorail service, new Metrorail routes throughout the county, a rapid transit link to South Beach, and various other things. All they have gotten is a single 2.5 mile extension of Metrorail, free Metromover rides, and a 6 mile extension of the busway.

 

[JamesWhitcombRiley]

Is that the same area that has a busway? I was in that area 15 years ago, and maybe everything has changed, but I recall seeing a busway but no buses.

The busway is further east. Heard a fascinating talk on the busway and all the resentments after broken promises for rail, and then a fresh look, finally ending in success, on a podcast which is not usually this good.

One bit of non-trivial trivia I picked up is that the FTA has a fast lane for projects under $400m (it was $300m at the time of the busway application).

"A County Voice for Transit"

Transcript: Talking Headways Podcast: A Miami-Dade Voice for Bus Rapid Transit — Streetsblog USA

Podcast:

 

[cirdan]

Somebody please correct me if I am mistaken, but does the CSX Homestead line not run from the airport and then head south, essentially by-passing Miami. So if you would want to get from Homestead to Miami on a commuter train you would have to take a huge long detour via the airport. This can hardly be competitive with driving.

The former FEC route would be much more sensible. But sadly that is now lost under the busway and can probably never be recovered.

 

[jis]

Somebody please correct me if I am mistaken, but does the CSX Homestead line not run from the airport and then head south, essentially by-passing Miami. So if you would want to get from Homestead to Miami on a commuter train you would have to take a huge long detour via the airport. This can hardly be competitive with driving.

The former FEC route would be much more sensible. But sadly that is now lost under the busway and can probably never be recovered.

Serving Homestead is not the primary purpose of the proposed service. It is to serve the fast developing residential and commercial areas along the proposed route. It is not like Miami has not grown at all since 1980.

The Miami Metro is also built along the FEC ROW to its terminus where the Busway takes over. Ideally the Metro should be extended to replace the Busway, but that will probably happen just about when a Boatway would be more appropriate

 

[jis]

Talks with CSX are continuing with a focus on the proposed East-West Corridor from the MIC at the Airport. And then of course there is the continuing bickering over the extension of the People Mover Eastward.

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local...nder-new-proposal-heres-what-to-know/3227346/

 

[bonzoesc]

I feel like Metromover to FIU would be infuriating? The existing mover is an airport-style APM, slow with low capacity. W 42nd Ave/LeJeune (where the airport and MIC are roughly) to W 107th Ave (FIU) is over six miles, a distance the heavy Metrorail system covers roughly between Dadeland South and Coconut Grove in about ten minutes with four stops in between. FIU is a normal big state school, and while an automated mover extension would be an improvement, I think the tens of thousands of people that study and work there would benefit from the Metrorail Orange Line being extended more than a gadgetbahn.

 

[jis]

Actually in almost any country not named the USofA what would be built is an elevated subway line with the capacity and speed that comes with it instead of something partly useless which can then be blamed later to denigrate rail transport, even though it really does not use rail in this case - just a guided way. I have come to the conclusion that public decision making regarding transport is (a) broken and (b) executed incompetently (maximizing cost and time to completion, and sub-optimizing ultimate utility) in a planned way, and this won't get fixed easily. Dome states are worse than others within the same theme.

 

[bonzoesc]

Actually in almost any country not named the USofA what would be built is an elevated subway line with the capacity and speed that comes with it instead of something partly useless which can then be blamed later to denigrate rail transport.

We’ll have to see if they hire the same concrete company as the airport’s D concourse APM in ten years when someone makes a decision.

 

[blueman271]

Talks with CSX are continuing with a focus on the proposed East-West Corridor from the MIC at the Airport. And then of course there is the continuing bickering over the extension of the People Mover Eastward.

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local...nder-new-proposal-heres-what-to-know/3227346/

I’m really hoping that whoever wrote this article made a mistake when they wrote Metromover and really meant Metrorail. Regardless, this thing will probably get built around the same time as all the other transit lines Dade County residents were promised in 02 when they voted for the half cent transit tax. Never.

 

[bonzoesc]

Such a bummer every time I go through Government Center.

 

[joelkfla]

I’m really hoping that whoever wrote this article made a mistake when they wrote Metromover and really meant Metrorail. Regardless, this thing will probably get built around the same time as all the other transit lines Dade County residents were promised in 02 when they voted for the half cent transit tax. Never.

Watch the video. It was the councilwoman who said MetroMover.

 

[joelkfla]

I feel like Metromover to FIU would be infuriating? The existing mover is an airport-style APM, slow with low capacity. W 42nd Ave/LeJeune (where the airport and MIC are roughly) to W 107th Ave (FIU) is over six miles, a distance the heavy Metrorail system covers roughly between Dadeland South and Coconut Grove in about ten minutes with four stops in between. FIU is a normal big state school, and while an automated mover extension would be an improvement, I think the tens of thousands of people that study and work there would benefit from the Metrorail Orange Line being extended more than a gadgetbahn.

Something like Vancouver's Skytrain or the JFK Airtrain would work -- elevated, automated, and speedy.

 

[west point]

The CSX rail line to the east of Runway 27L is IMO the only option. No raised Metro rail can be built over the CSX line as it would interfere with the takeoff and landing airspace of that runway. An added benefit may be that if Amtrak uses the airport station the Wye would then come under a government agency. That may be a problem if CSX does not want Amtrak to use the wye? Does anyone know if it is CSX property once clear of the switch off the Tri Rail tracks at the MIA station.

 

[bonzoesc]

The CSX rail line to the east of Runway 27L is IMO the only option. No raised Metro rail can be built over the CSX line as it would interfere with the takeoff and landing airspace of that runway. An added benefit may be that if Amtrak uses the airport station the Wye would then come under a government agency. That may be a problem if CSX does not want Amtrak to use the wye? Does anyone know if it is CSX property once clear of the switch off the Tri Rail tracks at the MIA station.

Going by the property appraiser’s site it’s CSX and the old Seaboard Coast Line.