Tri-Rail - History

History

Planning for the system began in 1983, and building the organization began in 1986. The current system was formed by the Florida Department of Transportation and began operation in 1989, originally to provide temporary commuter rail service while construction crews widened Interstate 95 and the parallel Florida's Turnpike. Tri-Rail was free from opening until May 1, 1990, at which time the fare was four dollars round trip. Due to higher than expected ridership, Tri-Rail outlasted its temporary status, adding more trains and stations in the process. Line extensions have enabled Tri-Rail to service all three South Florida international airports: Miami International Airport, Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport, and Palm Beach International Airport. The state's original plan was to use the more urban Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) line, but FEC declined the offer as they wanted freight to be their top priority.

In 1998, the initial 67-mile-long (108 km) route was extended north from the West Palm Beach Station to the Mangonia Park Station, and south from Hialeah Market Station (formerly Miami Airport Station) to the new Miami Airport station. Construction of the extensions began in 1996; which added nearly 4 miles (6.4 km) to the system. In the early 2000s, Tri-Rail received a budget of $84.8 million for double tracking, building extensions, improving stations, establishling a headquarters, and linking to buses.

In 2002, Tri-Rail began to upgrade its grade crossings to include raised medians and/or four quadrant gates to prevent cars from driving around them in an attempt to beat trains. This decreases accidents and allows the cities they run through to petition for them not to use their whistle between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. They also decreased headways to 20 minutes during rush hours.

In 2007, a project to upgrade the full length of the line from Mangonia Park to Miami Airport with double track was completed with the opening of a high-level fixed bridge over the New River near Fort Lauderdale. Once several other modernization projects are completed, SFRTA will assume full responsibility for dispatching and maintenance from CSX. During the 2000s, all of the stations other than Pompano Beach were redone to include new elevators and pedestrian bridges over the tracks, large roofs over the platforms, and better facilities. In 2011, the dilapidated Pompano Beach station received a $5.7 million federal grant to be redone as a "green station," generating more than 100% of its energy demand through solar power, with the excess to be sent to the grid or stored for nighttime lighting. Construction will start in spring 2012 and is expected to take 18 months to complete, with the station to remain open during construction. The crossing of Race Track Road and the Tri-Rail line near the Pompano Beach station has been rough for several years, and will be repaired in 2012.

In March 2006, Tri-Rail went from 30 passenger trains a day to 40 trains; the completion of the New River rail bridge, the double-tracking project, and the addition of a second Colorado Railcar diesel multiple unit (DMU) ushered in sweeping changes to Tri-Rail's operational timetables. Tri-Rail added several more trains during peak weekday commuting hours in June 2007, increasing to the current 50 trains per day, as well as increasing weekend service. During "rush-hour," trains ran every twenty to thirty minutes rather than the previous schedule of every hour. This change comes at quite a fortuitous time in Tri-Rail's operation history. With gasoline prices at record highs—particularly in South Florida's sprawling metropolis—Tri-Rail has seen a double-digit percentage increase in ridership in mid-2007. 2009 saw a record high number of passengers, over 4.2 million for the year. This was also the time during which work was being done on I-95 to add the express lanes from the Golden Glades Interchange to the Airport Expressway near downtown Miami.

However, in 2009 Tri-Rail service was nearly cut drastically with the threat being shut down altogether by 2011 even as ridership was at a record high as Palm Beach County could no longer fund its support of the system and was looking to slash its funding from $4.1 to $1.6 million. This would mean that Broward and Miami-Dade counties would also have had to cut their support to $1.6 million each to match. The state, which was also running a budget shortfall and did not pass a rental car tax increase to help fund Tri-Rail, would have had to cut its support as well. This would have caused an immediate cut from 50 to 30 daily trains and a complete cutting weekend service, followed by additional cuts and possible shut down two years later. Schedules were decreased slightly but service was never cut altogether as dedicated federal funding was attained through the $2.5 million dollar grant as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009.

After a 25% fare increase in mid 2009, ridership dropped by about 600,000 in 2010. However, in 2011, Tri-Rail again saw increasing ridership along with sustained high gas prices, averaging about 14,500 riders per weekday by the end of year. Throughout the year, ridership increased at a rate of about 11% per month, paired with a decline in automobile travel and an increase in employment, with 285 companies and 2,829 individuals joining in the discount program. The total ridership for 2011 was 3.95 million, the second highest, behind 2009. However, as Tri-Rail's fleet was aging, the cars were becoming crowded during the rush hour periods. Starting on November 28, 2011, the large project of extending the express lanes from the Golden Glades Interchange into Broward County began, and is likely to cause lane closures and congestion that may again lead to an increase in Tri-Rail ridership. After this project is completed in late 2014, the much larger project of rebuilding the Golden Glades Interchange could begin by 2016.

In early 2012, it was announced that a second Tri-Rail station in Boca Raton was once again being considered at the busy intersection of Glades Road (S.R. 808) and Military Trail (S.R. 809), near Town Center Mall, Florida Atlantic University and large office parks. A station was originally proposed for this location in the early 2000s while many other stations were being renovated. The current Boca Raton station near Yamato Road (S.R. 794) is the third busiest in the system.