A place in the sun for rail: Tri-Rail is double-tracking and Miami Metrorail is again in motion

Railway Age, May, 2004 by Luther S. Miller

In the early '90s, in the wake of Hurricane Andrew, there was a sea change in commuting patterns. With large portions of Miami-Dade wiped out, many people moved to Broward County, and to Palm Beach County but maintained their employment in Miami-Dade. The result was that Tri-Rail experienced an influx of riders, 11,000 to 14,000 people a day. During the mobility crisis, they rode free.

Once the railroad imposed fares in the late '90s and began to enforce zero tolerance for fare beaters, its revenue increased but ridership went into steep declines.

"In August 2000, we went to a clock-face schedule, which allowed us to greatly enhance our connectivity with the county bus systems," says SFRTA chief Joe Giuletti. "Ridership began to grow in double-digit percentages and, except for a brief downward spiral after 9/11 it has continued to increase." Tri-Rail has gone from carrying about 8,000 passengers a day to more than 10,000. In March 2004, in spite of being in the midst of its largest construction project ever, ridership increased 5.7% over March 2003. In the previous month of February, Tri-Rail recorded the highest average daily ridership in almost a decade, 10,151 passengers a day. Initially, Tri Rail projected that ridership would rise to 17,000 passengers a day with completion of the double-tracking project, but the railroad now says that's "probably a very conservative projection."

Tri-Rail has not determined how many coaches it will need to add to its fleet, though its full-funding agreement with FTA provides for some new rolling stock: two cab cars and five remanufactured locomotives, three of which will replace existing units. Tri-Rail now has a fleet of 26 cars, and is conducting a federal/state-sponsored test of an experimental Colorado Railcar DMU. The DMU was running two revenue trips a day until mid April when it traveled to Atlantic City, N.J., for display at APTA's annual commuter rail conference. Testing will resume this month, says Tri-Rail: "We'll be running 48 weeks, six revenue trips a day live days a week. Our fleet is now bilevels, and Colorado Railcar is creating a bilevel DMU as well. Fuel efficiency is one of its chief advantages. We're not sure just what that fuel efficiency is, which is one of the reasons why we were requested by FDOT to test it."

Who rides Tri-Rail trains? An examination of its employer discount roster shows a diverse mix--everything from airlines to luxury, hotels to some of the foremost law firms in south Florida. The trains also are popular with tourists and seasonal residents. The average customer travels 33 miles and four stops. Ridership spikes in February and March. in peak season the population contrasts can be startling. It's said that one quarter of the wealth of the world is then gathered in Palm Beach. It's also said that 50 miles west lie some of the poorest communities in the country.

Like rail and highway riders everywhere, the rich and the poor travel over infrastructure that the taxpayers subsidize. Tri-Rail is mandated to cover 25% of its operating cost from the farebox, though it usually manages to do slightly better. The taxpayer cost-per-motorist on chaotic I-95 has not been calculated, but it isn't pennies.