I grew up in West Palm Beach and rode Tri-Rail to school for 6-7th grade. We walked to the now-gone PBI Station from our neighborhood. That experience is what got me into Urbanism and transit.
Did they used to have a PBI dedicated station for Tri-Rail? I’ve been wondering why some of the signage always has a blanked out station before WPB. I’ve been googling around and I can’t find ANYTHING on this. It’s almost as if Tri-Rail hired the goons from John Wick who clean crime scenes to just ‘disappear’ the station lol. Please let me know!!
Glad you made it down to South Florida! I worked as a transportation planner for Palm Beach County and yes West Palm Beach is the best station. The downtown core of West Palm Beach is surprisingly walkable, bikeable, and transit accessible. There is a shuttle that picks up at the West Palm Beach station and does a loop through the city! If you're ever back in town you should take it!
Since July 2024, they've been doing express trips (starting with one southbound in the morning and one northbound in the evening) from West Palm Beach to MiamiCentral (stopping at Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale Airport, and Metrorail Transfer along the way). Yup, no transfers! The Hollywood in Florida was named such because of Joseph Young. In 1920, Joseph Young arrived in South Florida to create his own "Dream City in Florida". Young bought up thousands of acres of land around 1920, and named his new town "Hollywood by the Sea" to distinguish it from his other real-estate venture, "Hollywood in the Hills", in New York. After Young spent millions of dollars constructing the city, he was elected its first mayor in 1925. Young chose the name Hollywood not because of the one in California or because of holly bushes, but simply because he liked the sound of it, and the one in California wasn't the only Hollywood at the time since there are eighteen Hollywoods in the US. A funny story for Mangonia Park, they first petitioned to the Florida government to be called MAGNOLIA Park, but incorporation was granted but under the name Town of Mangonia Park. An explanation accompanied the charter stating the name, Town of Magnolia Park, was already taken and the State of Florida took the liberty of naming the town with a similar name, especially since there were many farms in the area that grew an abundance of mango groves from the early 1900s through the 1930s For Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport's history: World War I aviator Merle Fogg purchased an abandoned nine-hole golf course that was destroyed in the 1926 Miami hurricane for $1,200 in 1928. In May 1929, the airport officially opened as Merle Fogg Field. At the start of World War II, it was commissioned by the United States Navy and renamed Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale. The base was initially used for refitting civil airliners for military service before they were ferried across the Atlantic to Europe and North Africa. NAS Fort Lauderdale later became a main training base for Naval Aviators and enlisted naval air crewmen flying the Grumman TBF and TBM Avenger for the Navy and Marine Corps aboard aircraft carriers and from expeditionary airfields ashore. NAS Fort Lauderdale was the home base for Flight 19, the five TBM Avengers that disappeared in December 1945, leading in part to the notoriety of the Bermuda Triangle. NAS Fort Lauderdale closed on October 1, 1946, and was transferred to county control, becoming Broward County International Airport. Emirates once had flights from there between 2016 and 2020 when they switched to Miami in 2021, and Norwegian decided to discontinue all of its flights to the United States, leaving the airport without transatlantic service. Norse Atlantic Airways launched a direct flight to Oslo in June 2022 (and Gatwick), but they too relocated to Miami in Sept 2023. Then El Al began serving it as a second South Florida destination since South Florida has a big Jewish population.
Not just to do construction work widening I-95 along that stretch, but also the parallel Florida's Turnpike! When the system first began operations, the cars were in GO colors! They were purchased new from Urban Transportation Development Corporation, so even though they were delivered in GO Transit colors, the Tri-Rail cars were purchased new and never used or sold secondhand by GO, only leased by GO for a short period of time. They then changed the livery from GO colors to blue skies and palm trees which I love (I still like the new livery colors, but I prefer the palm trees) and it's one of my favorite liveries of all-time, up there with the New Mexico Rail Runner. And purchased more rolling stock from Hyundai Rotem, as well as renovating coaches so they can be bike cars, furthering reach with making it great for cyclists! Tri-Rail's ridership has done very well, exceeding expectations, in Q1 2024, they had an estimated 16,200 for average weekday ridership, and it helps that Tri-Rail serves Florida Atlantic University (at Boca Raton), the Palm Tran bus hub at West Palm Beach, MIA and Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood International, especially MIA since it's the gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean! For commuter rail expansion, there's the Northeast Corridor (aka Coastal Link), on Brightline's corridor between MiamiCentral and Aventura, stopping at FIU's Biscayne Bay campus, North Miami, Little Haiti, Design District, and Wynwood. And there's another commuter rail project planned to use Brightline's corridor by Broward County that would connect with the Northeast Corridor link at Aventura, Broward's project includes stops like one near Broward Health, and another stop at Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood International that will be closer to the airport's terminals. TOD has been planned around stations (both on Tri-Rail's and the future Broward and Coastal Link stations), like in Hollywood! Besides commuter rail plans, there's an elevated light rail system planned to connect Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International with Port Everglades and the Broward County Convention Center. Opa-locka was founded by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss in 1926. Curtiss developed the city with a Moorish architecture theme, thus it has the largest collection of Moorish Revival architecture in the Western Hemisphere! Opa-locka is an abbreviation of a Seminole place name, spelled Opatishawockalocka which means "wooded hummock" or "high, dry hummock". Hialeah comes from a Seminole word that basically means "high prairie". Hialeah was where Amelia Earhart in June 1937 said her final good-byes to the continental US as she left on her ill-fated second attempt flight around the world (her journey began in Oakland in May). Its Hialeah Park Race Track is why the flamingo is synonymous with the state as the racetrack's lake was stocked with many flamingos imported from Cuba in the 1930s, attracting people from all over! Flamingos used to be abundant in FL before the 1900s, living in huge colonies of more than 1,000 individuals in the Everglades and the Florida Keys in the 1800s. But then, in the late 19th century, it became trendy for women to wear colorful bird feathers in their hats. Overhunting led to the Floridian flamingos disappearing and since then, wild ones only show up in small numbers.
The Bi-Levels cars were Developped by Hawer Siddeley Canada with Canadian Car Foundry in Thunderbay. This was puchased by UTDC (owned by Ontario Government). And then sold to Lavalin engineering firms that sought to re-invent itself after it had finsihed its work for James Bay hydro electric. Lavaling went bankrupt, so UTCD went back to Ontario government, and rest of Lavalin integrated into SNC. Ontario government then got Bombardier to buy UTDC so Bombardier inherited the Vancouver Skytrain linear induction tsubway, as well as the Bi Levels and contracts to make Toronto subway cars. During its liquidation, Bombardier sold all that to Alsom, but Alstom has not yet announced the bi-evels as part of their product line. Because they wewre designed in the 1970s, they were grand-fathered when FRA mandated any new train go back to heavy steel fo the 1950s and on of the rare trains in north america still made light. The heavy steel multi-levels made for NJ Transit and EXO have been integrated into Alstom and given a forgettrable name. (After the Metrolinx crash on LA, cab cars need to be converted to have crash crumple zone in front of the driver. )
"Who would ride a train for fun anyway?" I pondered this question very deeply as if I were Sherlock Holmes, but shockingly, I arrived at the conclusion that I ride trains for fun. What a twist!
I like your delivery, Miles. Your videos are soothing and entertaining to watch. I took the train too much as a yout so I barely ride now but your videos have me thinking of heading to RI for some Harry's sliders or where ever else the wind may carry me. I hear Worcester is nice this time of year.
As the dad of a child with special needs and wheelchair, I have questioned the positioning of elevators in a LOT of subway and rail stations. I get that sometimes infrastructure could be in the way, so it’s not possible to put the elevator in the center of every platform… but those new 2nd Avenue stops on the Q, why is the street elevator at the end, but the platform elevator is in the middle, a good distance away from either entrance! We have missed so many trains because we were walking to the elevator, or waiting for it. (We don’t live there, but many of her doctors are up there, and that’s the only accessible station (we have to take the bus across town.)
The main benefit of the branch to MiamiCentral is the express service directly from West Palm Beach to Miami Central. Outside of rush hour it's pretty pointless unless they upgrade the tracks so it's faster than the metro. It's unfortunate that the express only runs once per day, it would be much more useful with improved frequency.
I think the problem is that Tri-Rail uses slower accelerating diesel locomotives unlike the EMUs on Metrorail which you would know by your videos of the Stadler FLIRT vs the GO Transit acceleration. I think to beat Metrorail you would need EMUs on Tri-Rail.
@@cerionerwarriorgamer1754 Acceleration doesn't matter much if there aren't any intermediate stations - that's only a problem the more you have to start and stop. In this case its clearly an alignment/trackspeed issue - too many switches and too many curves.
Also Tri-Rail doesn't even own the railway they use so you dont have the option to upgrade. I also dont think that if they close the track down for repairs many people will like it as that track is also used for Freight trains
@@Staurcomb A track can be closed down for repair. Brightline was able to do this between West Palm Beach and Cocoa as they were upgrading the tracks to Class 6 (110 MPH capable) while not hindering FEC freight trains.
i've been on tri-rail twice, both times because flights have gone haywire (once by myself, once with my parents and brother) and i had to get back up to the fort lauderdale area
Thank you for that observation on the distance entailed in many so-called "accessible" services. A lot of elderly and non-wheeled disabled folk have to cover too much distance. The long, steep ramp at Harvard Square to the upper busway is a good example, and there's a similar one at Alewife. To get from the main lobby at South Station to the inbound red line platform, you have to take one elevator down a level and then walk to another elevator for the platform level. If you are on crutches, in a leg brace, using a walker, etc., these distances add up quickly. But aside from my local beefs, I really like seeing what you've shown of Florida transit. Pleasantly surprised!
Yes even in Washington DC Metro, accessible, I came across a fare gate to an out of the way elevator, and had to climb the famous coffered wall to get both myself and person whose wheelchair I was pushing through while paying both fares, since I could not push the chair far enough to clear the gate and pay the second fare. It was bizarre, and I guess there is a better way if you know what you’re doing. Other DC notes: the sandy gravelly National Mall and the nearby brick sidewalks are difficult for wheelchairs; the East Wing of the National Gallery has a great trapezoidal elevator to the roof garden; and as at many airports, while there is extensive wheelchair service, the helper will not wait around once they get you to your connecting gate.
I was a rider in the 90s as a teenager. It was great. I lived in Boca and went to so many Heat and Hurricane games b/c we could take Tri Rail down to Miami.
Florida resident here. Rode tri-rail through college 20 years ago, commuting from West Palm to Miami. It's insane to me how little has changed in that time...still routinely late because of freight trains (double-tracks were supposed to relieve that) and mechanical issues, the same exact terrible seats from the 90's, and stations far from actual downtown areas where people would actually commute to. Crazy!
Ahhh, yes, Tri-Rail......That one time I convinced half my family to join me on Tri-Rail, instead of them going separately to the airport by car while I stayed behind on the train....... And then another train derailed and screwed everything, so we ended up scrambling for a second car...... And then we made the plane by less than 5 minutes; so close that our names were being blared out loud for last calls......
I ride TriRail a lot and while there’s PLENTY of room for improvement it’s wayyyy better than sitting on the i95. It’s great that it takes you to all the airports and all the way up to West Palm and beyond. The reason your train was empty is probably because of when you took it. It gets pretty full at busy hours of the day.
@@MilesinTransitif by shuttle trains you mean the TriRails that go between Miami Central and the Metrorail transfer station, no, they rarely get as busy, but that’s not surprising since they involve a seat change and most people just take Metrorail instead since it has more stations and thus reaches closer to origins and destinations. Very few people live or work around Miami Central. (Downtown Miami looks like it should be bustling with all the buildings but is in reality bizarrely deserted, insane squandered potential there but that’s a whole nother topic)
@@frefri4628 Truth is Miami is not a large corporate town. The banks with their investors, and the cruise lines. Most of the Miami skyline is condos and hotels, not office buildings for corporations. Probably why the MLB teams in Miami and St. Petersburg have difficulty raising local corporate sponsorship revenues and season ticket sales. The filthy rich leave Miami during the hot and muggy summer months and live in Florida during the warm winter months.
Got to love North American commuter trains. Nothing beats looking out the window and seeing bay doors for warehouses and the employees having their smoke breaks next to the dumpster.
Well the freight railroads do ship most of America's bulk freight to the factories and warehouses. For example grain to bakeries and noodles factories, high fructose corn syrup (liquid sugar) to soda factories and food processors and canneries, rolls of newsprint and paper to newspaper and magazine printing facilities nationwide, coal to power plants, etc., etc. As in the novel and film Dune, THE SPICE MUST FLOW... Freight is much more important to the American economy than delivering passengers to their destinations sooner... I know passengers do not want to hear this, but it is what it is...
In a time when all the foamers are flocking to Florida to ride Brightline, we can rely on MiT to show up and ride Tri-Rail. Excellent. Those Bombardier octagons are the workhorses of "we're trying our best" commuter rail systems everywhere.
Stanwood, Washington received its Amtrak Cascades stop about 15 years ago because a state senator wanted a rail option available for commuters in her district who would be impacted by I-5 construction work. Her original proposal was to extend Sounder commuter rail from Everett to Stanwood, which flopped spectacularly when BNSF provided an estimate of about $400M (in mid/late 2000s $$) for capacity improvements. She switched gears to Amtrak service that was forecast to be so underutilized that anticipated ridership wasn't really mentioned in justifications for funding design and construction. In fairness, time has shown that the stop exceeded expectations; FY2019 ridership was 33% higher than the original ridership forecast. The sounds impressive until you learn that the stop (unofficially, the Senator Haugen Legacy Memorial Stanwood Union Passenger Terminal Platform) had been expected to serve just 12 boardings / alightings per day.
I rode tri rail last summer while visiiting florida, and it was interesting. There was a market next to one of the stops that day, so the train was very busy which was nice to see. The stops had tri-lingual signage which was also neat. The trains themselves were massive, even compared to the bi-level trains I’m used to riding the MARC in Baltimore. Inside, the tri-rail trains themselves seemed to be showing a little wear from use. The fare payment system was very confusing, but the train itself was on time. The ride itself was nice, and the train got to West Palm Beach quickly. West Palm Beach station is also a historic station building still in use!
Mr. Miles this is a great video, despite the lack of ferries. Tiniest quibbles: calling MiamiCentralGovernmentCenter “the Brightline station.” Well I guess it does have a name problem. Commuter service on the FEC/BL tracks last I heard is still on track, with some interesting infill stations in Miami, a la Metro North infilling in the Bronx on the way to Penn Station, also on track to happen. Now on the other hand the “people’s transit tax” that decades ago was supposed to provide equitable service to neighborhoods where, yes, service workers live, and many others before gentrification, is at this point a generational betrayal, but it’s South Florida, so grumbling can seem sub rosa. (Houston has some similarities in random whatevers expected to occur on a daily basis.) But the BRT finally achieved for the distant Miami Dade working class areas Homestead and Florida City, while not rail, did come in under the number needed for fast track federal grants. All spearheaded by a young politician representing Miami Beach! Finally, and not so happily, the Ft Lauderdale Brightline station is adjacent to a local bus center, but it’s a long walk due to a hostile fence (rich/poor) and not great for tourists. For example, no scooters or bike rentals in that part of downtown. Broward County sort of has that rep, less organized than Miami or West Palm, so it is what it is.
Miami Central was being built when I biked though construction zone in December 2017. Failry advanced (but didn't know what it would be at the time). So it is a new construction. The Metro might be faster, but from Miami Central you would need 2 fares instead of just the train fare. Also, as the name implied "Miami Central" seeks to become THE transport hub with Brightline, metro, the people mover and tri rail.
I rode Tri-Rail once back in 1997. It was on a field trip with my class to West Palm Beach to visit the Whitehall Flagler Museum and the Palm Beach Zoo (then known as the Dreher Park Zoo).
The FLL Airport station kind of reminds me of the Sutphin Blvd.-JFK and Howard Beach-JFK stations where they don't leave you off directly at JFK, but you have to take the AirTrain shuttle service to the Airport.
He got stopped at IRIS Interlocking, its a railroad diamond in Hialeah were Tri-Rail and the FEC intersect. Generally speaking its whoever gets there first goes through and FEC does 45-50 MPH depending on the type of train so it really isnt a problem, especially considering the station is just past the diamond so by the time Tri Rail reaches the diamond theri doing about 40MPH. Ive been to IRIS myself were a FEC train had to wait for Tri Rail. Also all Tri Rail trackage is owned and managed by the SFRTA, CSX has to wait for all Tri Rail trains.
It happens on Amtrak intercity trains more frequently but I’ve literally never seen or heard of another commuter rail system having those kinds of interruptions. Not common at all
Banger video, as always - but also needed to say I always thought pretzels were unbelievably mid… until I realized I had only been eating rold gold and needless to say, I’ve been fully converted to the Snyders gang. Thank you Miles.
Fun fact: vermont almost had a similar situation to what happened at 2:38, but it was eventually canned a few years later by a new governor who was doing "austerity". In other world, vermont would have a commuter rail, and you'd have 3 nickels.
Yes, although it wouldn't have been I-95! Vermont has surprisingly high transit usage around Burlington, a commuter rail there wouldn't not make sense.
edit: this is a stupid comment I did the usual thing where I confused burlington and brattleboro @@MilesinTransit I just got back from spending half a week there, I can confirm, Moover busses go through downtown ALL THE TIME. I didn't have the chance to try them out, butsuposedly they're fare free now Edit 2: In my defense the names sound the same. And brattleboro has fairly high amtrak ridership, and as previously mentioned, a lot of busses, so my brain is a lil small and it makes sense.
I’m an international student at south Florida and me and my fellow classmates use Tri Rail a lot! Be it for the airports, going to Miami or visiting my only relatives in the area. My experience has been pretty decent with a lot of space for improvement. I did read Tri Rail received some federal grants which they said is gonna be used for new Passenger cars and maybe new locomotives. They also are gonna improve their rolling stock (Better AC and WIFI). It’d be cool to see EMU being the rolling stock for Tri Rail in a near future.
Tap on tap off systems generally charge you the largest fare possible from the boarding station and then subtract when you get off. So it’s possible that regular riders getting off at the end of the line know that they won’t get any money back and don’t bother to tap their card.
12:02 That tone is on Siemens trains! It’s a higher pitched variation than ones I’ve heard on the SD-160, S200s, U2s etc. On MUNI, Calgary and Edmonton.
I occasionally catch the Tri-Rail from FLL Airport to MIA Airport station as well as transfering to MetroRail to catch Marlins games. I wish Brightline built a station at FLL airport.
1st time I took Tri-Rail I was running late and just got on board assuming I could buy a ticket from the conductor after we departed. It was quite the surprise when a lady (armed!) came through the car to check tickets and I found out they don't do on board sales. Lesson learned!
I believe they've always just considered the West Palm Beach stop to be the airport connection point...I'm not aware of any Palm Beach Airport station!
I'm from Broward and take the Tri-Rail every time I fly out of MIA. It's the classic example of public transportation that is giving 0 love but has such a demand that even with horrible upkeep, it continually finds users (like me). Wish we would invest into the Tri-Rail and it's surrounding stations and not just build another lane on 95.
My guess is that like the main library at the university I attended, they put the elevators in out of the way spots, and therefore would get more students to use the main stairwell, which was very nice and grand. even though the elevators are a bit out of the way, at least it's probably immediately available to anyone who actually needs to use an elevator. The elevators in Miami Central are probably rarely used, and probably are easier to maintain due to less traffic, and less usage. Probably if you were in a wheelchair, either staff would direct you to the elevator, or maybe there are signs at eye level for someone in a chair. They obviously want more people to use the escalators or stairs for continuous flow. Nice video, I heard of Tri-Rail, but didn't know the network, and wasn't interested enough to research it on my own. Whoever came up with the idea of running the Tri-Rail for the road construction needs an award for convincing South Florida politicians to go with the idea.
Ehh, I don't like that reasoning for putting elevators far away. For someone in an automatic wheelchair it'd be fine, but it's a VERY long walk for someone who has a manual one or is on crutches, for example.
Idk if you heard the news Miles, but NJ Transit will be free the week of Monday August 26th till September 2nd, I wonder if ur gonna make a video doing some cool route with NJT!
When I drive my 25 year old Ford Econoline the total weight is 2 tons, of which I (with stuff) account for about five percent. This means that 95 percent of the mass needed to get me somewhere just sits in the parking lot. Miles, you have put me to shame! Lets say you way 150 pounds, a tri-rail train weights 297 tons. This means that on your solo trip you were .00025 of the total mass moved to your destination! You could have traveled in a presidential motorcade and still have been more energy efficient. I don't think I can beat your vehicle to cargo ratio but I'm willing to try, maybe I can try a solo voyage on a cruise ship? Keep it up, this stuff is fun.
The “old” and “90’s livery wasn’t the original 89’s livery, which is how it was when I rode it the first year it was in service (damn I’m old) 35 years ago. It’s a cool and odd system, like all transit in Florida. It’s on the old Atlantic Seaboard/CSX tracks, which are further inland from their preferred route along the FEC, who originally declined them but now let Brightline use their tracks. They always had shuttle buses running to the airports and east to the towns along the coast.
So for me when I was living in Hollywood, if I had to go to Miami airport it was......an adventure. YES an adventure. To get off and then go through the Intermodal center to be dropped off literally in the middle of a parking garage to then navigate either to get to the AA terminal or to traverse through all the parking garages to get to the Southside of the airport. Also pain in butt to where i used to work because the end of the Metrorail being in Hialeah, just never made full sense to use it when my work was like another 10 minutes
Idk if it's the same type of train but we have SunRail here in Orlando. Unfortunately it only runs Monday through Friday. Considering the bowl games & other sporting events it would make sense for SunRail to operate on weekends.
I can't wait to ride the Grand Theft Auto equivalent of all these. We know the airport peoplemover is in as well as the MetroMover aka MetroMule. I feel like a Brightline/Tri-Rail parody is in since we're getting a whole state and leaked footage has proof of train stations in the second large city. Praying to the ghost of Daniel Turner for MetroRail. 14 more months (estimated)
I took the first outbound Tri rail out of Miami central station in Jan. 2024 and was surprised how overbuilt the station is. no one uses tri-rail basically
Tri-rail has been looking into implimenting express services from miami central to west palm making only a few stops which would probably have a massive use case
I was sad that you didn't show the Delray Beach stop on your ride north on the Tri-Star train. My grandparents used to live there and it would have been nice to see what the station looked like.
The muni one's D5-A4, which is also a perfect fourth, but a different one. This one, A4-E4, is such a common PA high-low chime it's hard to say what else you're thinking of Miles, it's maybe second only to C#5-A4 (e.g. nyc subway closing doors) and D5-B4 (e.g. airplane cabin paging)
Oh yeah, sorry, putting 1 and 1 together: I was thinking of the muni stops' PA arriving train tone which use D5-A4, but also their siemens equipment has prerecorded stop announcements that use A4-E4 like this
Yeah, I normally post CT rail and transit comments, but I have to ask when you will be trying out Sun Rail? Sun Rail is a really great system for what it is, some stations have lots of stuff to do and connections to cool stuff to do, others feel like you were dropped in the middle of nothing. I have done Dinner, museums, and bike trails from Sun Rail and it has always been a nice ride. Also pretty bike friendly, at least they don't complain when there are more bikes than they are designed for unless they are blocking the aisle.
If only it ran on weekends... But I'm not sure when it'll get a video! I've only ridden it from Orlando to Kissimmee, but to justify a video I'd want to do the whole thing.
@@MilesinTransit you might want to wait if you want to ride the "whole" line as they are adding a new station on the north end. I normally ride from Tupperware to whatever activity I want to do. Yeah, the train really needs to run 7 days a week to be more useful as a connection to recreational activities.
I took a shuttle train during Ultra and it was PACKED. Until Tri-Rail gets new equipment/rolling stock, that's what they'll have to do for now. Also, you might think the Tri-Rail side is overbuilt but who's to say years down the line Tri-Rail isn't running a new-long train to the station?
In 1999 I arrived at MIA and the Tri-Rail shuttlebus driver literally spent too much time chatting with her friend. We missed the train by about 30 seconds and had to wait an hour. In no AC.
Note for tech geeks: Brightline's Miami Central (Downtown) Station features two (2) platform boarding heights: one for its Siemens' coaches, another for Tri-Rail trains.
The dimensions of that tri platform was one of the delays getting the service open, so it was fun to see a closeup. The other issue was the amount of incline into the station, which turned out to be fine when they checked with another engineer. South Florida, always an adventure, and accommodation.
I had a job interview and I needed to take the tri rail because my car was broken down that day and I arrived at the station at 7:30 am to find out my train would not arrive until 7:46. The train continued to get delayed and I ended up missing my interview at 9 because someone jumped in front of the train.
This video is everything I expected! When I heard you got there with 8 minutes to spare the nail biting began, as I knew alas you had made the innocent mistake of believing that Tri-Rail has functional ticketing services…even though you have an EASY card it’s still difficult! Now imagine trying to buy tickets with a group with 10 minutes before a train and none of the machines on your side of the platform work…welcome to Tri-Rail! 😂
Next Video: "Riding the Saddest Commuter Bus." Riding the Reno to Carson City RTC line. This bus goes from the 2nd most populous city in the state to the Capital, apital, and nobody is ever on it....
wow, I actually expected an LRT/people-mover style vehicle all the way, did not think there was a non-Brightline heavy rail option in Florida other than an occasional Amtrak.
Miami's Metro Rail (a Heavy Rail elevated Subway system) along with TRI-Rail, AMTRAK and Brightline are our Heavy Rail. You know we are semi-Civilized here in Florida! 😂🤣😋
@@stanislavkostarnov2157 Understandable but did you know that it was Henry Flagler's Railroad that created the cities of Palm Beach & Miami?Railroads built most of Florida.
@@xoxxobob61 I thought it was primarily shipping and harbors... I knew a railway existed to the Keys, which was what originally made them holiday destinations, but thought the rest of the railways were historically limited to sugar cane plantation trains...
@@stanislavkostarnov2157You might like the story of Julia Tuttle sending the orange blossoms to Henry Flagler during a freeze in Orlando, in order to convince him to bring the train to Miami, which barely existed at the time. All the subsequent South Florida towns were railroad towns, some with Flagler resort hotels. In Miami, intended as a place of clean living and edifying public culture, the Flagler hotel was the only place that allowed alcohol. Miami orange groves also turned out to be a temporary phenomenon.
Another commuter rail line opened to alleviate congestion cause by freeway construction is the Antelope Valley Line in LA Sort of I mean theres 2 caveats with that one. First of all the freeway was damaged in the 1994 earthquake so it wasnt just construction it was repairs And the line already existed for 2 years up to Santa Clarita but was extended to Lancaster for earthquake relief Up to u how u wanna count that lol
I live in Columbia SC. About three months ago I went down and did SunRail, Brightline, Tri-Rail and Metrorail. There are actually a lot of positives about Tri-Rail but maintenance and cleanliness isn't one of them. I actually thought the Metrorail cleanliness was far superior. They have different governing bodies. I wish Metrorail's governing body was Tri-Rail's.
Princeton branch is only less than 3 mi. The Metrorail Transfer-MiamiCentral shuttle is much longer and takes SO long because of how slow the trains run
Flight 40 minutes early, Tri Rail 40 minutes late? Perfectly on time! 🤣
I forgot he said his flight was very early and that 40 minutes being late made it up
I grew up in West Palm Beach and had a birthday party on Tri-Rail as a kid. Still the coolest party I’ve ever thrown
Broward County here! Weston for like the first 10 years of my life and then Miami/Dade in Hollywood for another 3 before I moved up to Taxachusetts.
That sounds AWESOME!
My grandparents lived there and I had always wanted to go on Tri-Rail. Would have been awesome to have a birthday party on it.
@@Leon14000Taxachusetts hasn't been a thing since at least 2005
@@Ryfael Take a look at my W2s and then talk to me.
The credits were very easy to read, thank you.
You've had the most quintessential South Florida public transit experience- minus being on a Brightline train that strikes a pedestian or vehicle.
I grew up in West Palm Beach and rode Tri-Rail to school for 6-7th grade. We walked to the now-gone PBI Station from our neighborhood. That experience is what got me into Urbanism and transit.
are you sure it wasn't me or the ex-Pierce driver at PalmTran?
Did they used to have a PBI dedicated station for Tri-Rail? I’ve been wondering why some of the signage always has a blanked out station before WPB. I’ve been googling around and I can’t find ANYTHING on this. It’s almost as if Tri-Rail hired the goons from John Wick who clean crime scenes to just ‘disappear’ the station lol. Please let me know!!
Not the credits font 💀
oh, that hurts my eyes...
Glad you made it down to South Florida! I worked as a transportation planner for Palm Beach County and yes West Palm Beach is the best station. The downtown core of West Palm Beach is surprisingly walkable, bikeable, and transit accessible. There is a shuttle that picks up at the West Palm Beach station and does a loop through the city! If you're ever back in town you should take it!
Since July 2024, they've been doing express trips (starting with one southbound in the morning and one northbound in the evening) from West Palm Beach to MiamiCentral (stopping at Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale Airport, and Metrorail Transfer along the way). Yup, no transfers! The Hollywood in Florida was named such because of Joseph Young. In 1920, Joseph Young arrived in South Florida to create his own "Dream City in Florida". Young bought up thousands of acres of land around 1920, and named his new town "Hollywood by the Sea" to distinguish it from his other real-estate venture, "Hollywood in the Hills", in New York. After Young spent millions of dollars constructing the city, he was elected its first mayor in 1925. Young chose the name Hollywood not because of the one in California or because of holly bushes, but simply because he liked the sound of it, and the one in California wasn't the only Hollywood at the time since there are eighteen Hollywoods in the US. A funny story for Mangonia Park, they first petitioned to the Florida government to be called MAGNOLIA Park, but incorporation was granted but under the name Town of Mangonia Park. An explanation accompanied the charter stating the name, Town of Magnolia Park, was already taken and the State of Florida took the liberty of naming the town with a similar name, especially since there were many farms in the area that grew an abundance of mango groves from the early 1900s through the 1930s
For Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport's history: World War I aviator Merle Fogg purchased an abandoned nine-hole golf course that was destroyed in the 1926 Miami hurricane for $1,200 in 1928. In May 1929, the airport officially opened as Merle Fogg Field. At the start of World War II, it was commissioned by the United States Navy and renamed Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale. The base was initially used for refitting civil airliners for military service before they were ferried across the Atlantic to Europe and North Africa. NAS Fort Lauderdale later became a main training base for Naval Aviators and enlisted naval air crewmen flying the Grumman TBF and TBM Avenger for the Navy and Marine Corps aboard aircraft carriers and from expeditionary airfields ashore. NAS Fort Lauderdale was the home base for Flight 19, the five TBM Avengers that disappeared in December 1945, leading in part to the notoriety of the Bermuda Triangle. NAS Fort Lauderdale closed on October 1, 1946, and was transferred to county control, becoming Broward County International Airport. Emirates once had flights from there between 2016 and 2020 when they switched to Miami in 2021, and Norwegian decided to discontinue all of its flights to the United States, leaving the airport without transatlantic service. Norse Atlantic Airways launched a direct flight to Oslo in June 2022 (and Gatwick), but they too relocated to Miami in Sept 2023. Then El Al began serving it as a second South Florida destination since South Florida has a big Jewish population.
Not just to do construction work widening I-95 along that stretch, but also the parallel Florida's Turnpike! When the system first began operations, the cars were in GO colors! They were purchased new from Urban Transportation Development Corporation, so even though they were delivered in GO Transit colors, the Tri-Rail cars were purchased new and never used or sold secondhand by GO, only leased by GO for a short period of time. They then changed the livery from GO colors to blue skies and palm trees which I love (I still like the new livery colors, but I prefer the palm trees) and it's one of my favorite liveries of all-time, up there with the New Mexico Rail Runner. And purchased more rolling stock from Hyundai Rotem, as well as renovating coaches so they can be bike cars, furthering reach with making it great for cyclists! Tri-Rail's ridership has done very well, exceeding expectations, in Q1 2024, they had an estimated 16,200 for average weekday ridership, and it helps that Tri-Rail serves Florida Atlantic University (at Boca Raton), the Palm Tran bus hub at West Palm Beach, MIA and Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood International, especially MIA since it's the gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean! For commuter rail expansion, there's the Northeast Corridor (aka Coastal Link), on Brightline's corridor between MiamiCentral and Aventura, stopping at FIU's Biscayne Bay campus, North Miami, Little Haiti, Design District, and Wynwood. And there's another commuter rail project planned to use Brightline's corridor by Broward County that would connect with the Northeast Corridor link at Aventura, Broward's project includes stops like one near Broward Health, and another stop at Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood International that will be closer to the airport's terminals. TOD has been planned around stations (both on Tri-Rail's and the future Broward and Coastal Link stations), like in Hollywood! Besides commuter rail plans, there's an elevated light rail system planned to connect Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International with Port Everglades and the Broward County Convention Center.
Opa-locka was founded by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss in 1926. Curtiss developed the city with a Moorish architecture theme, thus it has the largest collection of Moorish Revival architecture in the Western Hemisphere! Opa-locka is an abbreviation of a Seminole place name, spelled Opatishawockalocka which means "wooded hummock" or "high, dry hummock". Hialeah comes from a Seminole word that basically means "high prairie". Hialeah was where Amelia Earhart in June 1937 said her final good-byes to the continental US as she left on her ill-fated second attempt flight around the world (her journey began in Oakland in May). Its Hialeah Park Race Track is why the flamingo is synonymous with the state as the racetrack's lake was stocked with many flamingos imported from Cuba in the 1930s, attracting people from all over! Flamingos used to be abundant in FL before the 1900s, living in huge colonies of more than 1,000 individuals in the Everglades and the Florida Keys in the 1800s. But then, in the late 19th century, it became trendy for women to wear colorful bird feathers in their hats. Overhunting led to the Floridian flamingos disappearing and since then, wild ones only show up in small numbers.
The Bi-Levels cars were Developped by Hawer Siddeley Canada with Canadian Car Foundry in Thunderbay.
This was puchased by UTDC (owned by Ontario Government). And then sold to Lavalin engineering firms that sought to re-invent itself after it had finsihed its work for James Bay hydro electric. Lavaling went bankrupt, so UTCD went back to Ontario government, and rest of Lavalin integrated into SNC.
Ontario government then got Bombardier to buy UTDC so Bombardier inherited the Vancouver Skytrain linear induction tsubway, as well as the Bi Levels and contracts to make Toronto subway cars. During its liquidation, Bombardier sold all that to Alsom, but Alstom has not yet announced the bi-evels as part of their product line. Because they wewre designed in the 1970s, they were grand-fathered when FRA mandated any new train go back to heavy steel fo the 1950s and on of the rare trains in north america still made light. The heavy steel multi-levels made for NJ Transit and EXO have been integrated into Alstom and given a forgettrable name.
(After the Metrolinx crash on LA, cab cars need to be converted to have crash crumple zone in front of the driver. )
Love the credits! That font is so bad, I thought it was wingdings!
google lens thinks itc bauhaus medium i thought it might be anchor jack or devotion via google search
He’s actually used Wingdings before in his credits
(Insert “now that’s a fun fact” sound bite here)
Then why do you love it?
Busby! online-fonts.com/fonts/busby
@@MilesinTransit ah I see Google lens and Google search were incorrect! 😳🤣
the Art-Deco/machine-language font on the credits is AWESOME, I WANT IT
Here it is! online-fonts.com/fonts/busby
@@MilesinTransit thank you Miles, I love it 💖
"Who would ride a train for fun anyway?" I pondered this question very deeply as if I were Sherlock Holmes, but shockingly, I arrived at the conclusion that I ride trains for fun. What a twist!
I feel seen
Only $5 on the weekend from WPB to Miami. Can't beat it. Love Tri-Rail.
I like your delivery, Miles. Your videos are soothing and entertaining to watch. I took the train too much as a yout so I barely ride now but your videos have me thinking of heading to RI for some Harry's sliders or where ever else the wind may carry me. I hear Worcester is nice this time of year.
Thanks very much!
As the dad of a child with special needs and wheelchair, I have questioned the positioning of elevators in a LOT of subway and rail stations. I get that sometimes infrastructure could be in the way, so it’s not possible to put the elevator in the center of every platform… but those new 2nd Avenue stops on the Q, why is the street elevator at the end, but the platform elevator is in the middle, a good distance away from either entrance! We have missed so many trains because we were walking to the elevator, or waiting for it. (We don’t live there, but many of her doctors are up there, and that’s the only accessible station (we have to take the bus across town.)
The main benefit of the branch to MiamiCentral is the express service directly from West Palm Beach to Miami Central. Outside of rush hour it's pretty pointless unless they upgrade the tracks so it's faster than the metro.
It's unfortunate that the express only runs once per day, it would be much more useful with improved frequency.
I think the problem is that Tri-Rail uses slower accelerating diesel locomotives unlike the EMUs on Metrorail which you would know by your videos of the Stadler FLIRT vs the GO Transit acceleration. I think to beat Metrorail you would need EMUs on Tri-Rail.
@@cerionerwarriorgamer1754 Acceleration doesn't matter much if there aren't any intermediate stations - that's only a problem the more you have to start and stop. In this case its clearly an alignment/trackspeed issue - too many switches and too many curves.
Also Tri-Rail doesn't even own the railway they use so you dont have the option to upgrade. I also dont think that if they close the track down for repairs many people will like it as that track is also used for Freight trains
@@Staurcomb A track can be closed down for repair. Brightline was able to do this between West Palm Beach and Cocoa as they were upgrading the tracks to Class 6 (110 MPH capable) while not hindering FEC freight trains.
i've been on tri-rail twice, both times because flights have gone haywire (once by myself, once with my parents and brother) and i had to get back up to the fort lauderdale area
*and both times this summer
Thank you for that observation on the distance entailed in many so-called "accessible" services. A lot of elderly and non-wheeled disabled folk have to cover too much distance. The long, steep ramp at Harvard Square to the upper busway is a good example, and there's a similar one at Alewife. To get from the main lobby at South Station to the inbound red line platform, you have to take one elevator down a level and then walk to another elevator for the platform level. If you are on crutches, in a leg brace, using a walker, etc., these distances add up quickly. But aside from my local beefs, I really like seeing what you've shown of Florida transit. Pleasantly surprised!
Yes even in Washington DC Metro, accessible, I came across a fare gate to an out of the way elevator, and had to climb the famous coffered wall to get both myself and person whose wheelchair I was pushing through while paying both fares, since I could not push the chair far enough to clear the gate and pay the second fare. It was bizarre, and I guess there is a better way if you know what you’re doing. Other DC notes: the sandy gravelly National Mall and the nearby brick sidewalks are difficult for wheelchairs; the East Wing of the National Gallery has a great trapezoidal elevator to the roof garden; and as at many airports, while there is extensive wheelchair service, the helper will not wait around once they get you to your connecting gate.
I was a rider in the 90s as a teenager. It was great. I lived in Boca and went to so many Heat and Hurricane games b/c we could take Tri Rail down to Miami.
First time I saw the tri rail sign, I thought of a slogan “tri rail. Why don’t *you* try rail??”
Haha, that's good!
I grew up in Boca Raton. It wasn't until like a few years before I moved that I tried tri-rail for the first time and I loved it
Florida resident here. Rode tri-rail through college 20 years ago, commuting from West Palm to Miami. It's insane to me how little has changed in that time...still routinely late because of freight trains (double-tracks were supposed to relieve that) and mechanical issues, the same exact terrible seats from the 90's, and stations far from actual downtown areas where people would actually commute to. Crazy!
Ahhh, yes, Tri-Rail......That one time I convinced half my family to join me on Tri-Rail, instead of them going separately to the airport by car while I stayed behind on the train.......
And then another train derailed and screwed everything, so we ended up scrambling for a second car......
And then we made the plane by less than 5 minutes; so close that our names were being blared out loud for last calls......
I ride TriRail a lot and while there’s PLENTY of room for improvement it’s wayyyy better than sitting on the i95. It’s great that it takes you to all the airports and all the way up to West Palm and beyond. The reason your train was empty is probably because of when you took it. It gets pretty full at busy hours of the day.
Even the shuttle trains?
@@MilesinTransitif by shuttle trains you mean the TriRails that go between Miami Central and the Metrorail transfer station, no, they rarely get as busy, but that’s not surprising since they involve a seat change and most people just take Metrorail instead since it has more stations and thus reaches closer to origins and destinations. Very few people live or work around Miami Central. (Downtown Miami looks like it should be bustling with all the buildings but is in reality bizarrely deserted, insane squandered potential there but that’s a whole nother topic)
@@frefri4628 Yeah...that's the train I rode that was empty
@@frefri4628 Truth is Miami is not a large corporate town. The banks with their investors, and the cruise lines. Most of the Miami skyline is condos and hotels, not office buildings for corporations. Probably why the MLB teams in Miami and St. Petersburg have difficulty raising local corporate sponsorship revenues and season ticket sales. The filthy rich leave Miami during the hot and muggy summer months and live in Florida during the warm winter months.
Got to love North American commuter trains. Nothing beats looking out the window and seeing bay doors for warehouses and the employees having their smoke breaks next to the dumpster.
Well the freight railroads do ship most of America's bulk freight to the factories and warehouses. For example grain to bakeries and noodles factories, high fructose corn syrup (liquid sugar) to soda factories and food processors and canneries, rolls of newsprint and paper to newspaper and magazine printing facilities nationwide, coal to power plants, etc., etc. As in the novel and film Dune, THE SPICE MUST FLOW... Freight is much more important to the American economy than delivering passengers to their destinations sooner... I know passengers do not want to hear this, but it is what it is...
The “you stupid idiot” angry commenter joke truly never fails to make me laugh
Haha, thank you so much!
As somebody who has grown up in West Palm Beach, and regularly watches Miles, this video feels like my worlds colliding.
Miami is so weird. I don't understand how Brazilians love this place so much.
In a time when all the foamers are flocking to Florida to ride Brightline, we can rely on MiT to show up and ride Tri-Rail. Excellent.
Those Bombardier octagons are the workhorses of "we're trying our best" commuter rail systems everywhere.
In fairness, I reviewed Brightline quite a bit earlier than this! ;) But I appreciate it!
Stanwood, Washington received its Amtrak Cascades stop about 15 years ago because a state senator wanted a rail option available for commuters in her district who would be impacted by I-5 construction work. Her original proposal was to extend Sounder commuter rail from Everett to Stanwood, which flopped spectacularly when BNSF provided an estimate of about $400M (in mid/late 2000s $$) for capacity improvements. She switched gears to Amtrak service that was forecast to be so underutilized that anticipated ridership wasn't really mentioned in justifications for funding design and construction. In fairness, time has shown that the stop exceeded expectations; FY2019 ridership was 33% higher than the original ridership forecast. The sounds impressive until you learn that the stop (unofficially, the Senator Haugen Legacy Memorial Stanwood Union Passenger Terminal Platform) had been expected to serve just 12 boardings / alightings per day.
Bless Mary Margaret!
I rode tri rail last summer while visiiting florida, and it was interesting. There was a market next to one of the stops that day, so the train was very busy which was nice to see. The stops had tri-lingual signage which was also neat. The trains themselves were massive, even compared to the bi-level trains I’m used to riding the MARC in Baltimore. Inside, the tri-rail trains themselves seemed to be showing a little wear from use. The fare payment system was very confusing, but the train itself was on time. The ride itself was nice, and the train got to West Palm Beach quickly. West Palm Beach station is also a historic station building still in use!
Mr. Miles this is a great video, despite the lack of ferries. Tiniest quibbles: calling MiamiCentralGovernmentCenter “the Brightline station.” Well I guess it does have a name problem. Commuter service on the FEC/BL tracks last I heard is still on track, with some interesting infill stations in Miami, a la Metro North infilling in the Bronx on the way to Penn Station, also on track to happen. Now on the other hand the “people’s transit tax” that decades ago was supposed to provide equitable service to neighborhoods where, yes, service workers live, and many others before gentrification, is at this point a generational betrayal, but it’s South Florida, so grumbling can seem sub rosa. (Houston has some similarities in random whatevers expected to occur on a daily basis.) But the BRT finally achieved for the distant Miami Dade working class areas Homestead and Florida City, while not rail, did come in under the number needed for fast track federal grants. All spearheaded by a young politician representing Miami Beach! Finally, and not so happily, the Ft Lauderdale Brightline station is adjacent to a local bus center, but it’s a long walk due to a hostile fence (rich/poor) and not great for tourists. For example, no scooters or bike rentals in that part of downtown. Broward County sort of has that rep, less organized than Miami or West Palm, so it is what it is.
Miami Central was being built when I biked though construction zone in December 2017. Failry advanced (but didn't know what it would be at the time). So it is a new construction.
The Metro might be faster, but from Miami Central you would need 2 fares instead of just the train fare. Also, as the name implied "Miami Central" seeks to become THE transport hub with Brightline, metro, the people mover and tri rail.
A capital solution to a policy problem is a waste of money.
I rode Tri-Rail once back in 1997. It was on a field trip with my class to West Palm Beach to visit the Whitehall Flagler Museum and the Palm Beach Zoo (then known as the Dreher Park Zoo).
Great video Miles
Since bright line runs up from Miami to west palm beach too Tri rail is like the LOW BID and bright line is a Good bid lol
The FLL Airport station kind of reminds me of the Sutphin Blvd.-JFK and Howard Beach-JFK stations where they don't leave you off directly at JFK, but you have to take the AirTrain shuttle service to the Airport.
Yes, although a train is much more desirable than a bus, I think!
You can also meet the Amtrak Silver Service in Miami
NJ Transit is gonna be free between August 26 to September 2, so this is the opportunity for some NJT content.
It's so strange for me to think that a commuter train has to stop and give way to a freight one, in Europe it's always the opposite!
In USA, freight companies own the rails and lease out to passenger trains.
Legally, freight is supposed to give way, but the real law in America is money, and therefore they don't.
Passenger trains typically have priority, *as long as they're on schedule*. Once they get behind, freight gets priority
He got stopped at IRIS Interlocking, its a railroad diamond in Hialeah were Tri-Rail and the FEC intersect. Generally speaking its whoever gets there first goes through and FEC does 45-50 MPH depending on the type of train so it really isnt a problem, especially considering the station is just past the diamond so by the time Tri Rail reaches the diamond theri doing about 40MPH. Ive been to IRIS myself were a FEC train had to wait for Tri Rail.
Also all Tri Rail trackage is owned and managed by the SFRTA, CSX has to wait for all Tri Rail trains.
It happens on Amtrak intercity trains more frequently but I’ve literally never seen or heard of another commuter rail system having those kinds of interruptions. Not common at all
damn what a great credits font you got there
Banger video, as always - but also needed to say I always thought pretzels were unbelievably mid… until I realized I had only been eating rold gold and needless to say, I’ve been fully converted to the Snyders gang. Thank you Miles.
This made my day, thank you!
I think this is the first line I saw on classywhale before miles in transit
Fun fact: vermont almost had a similar situation to what happened at 2:38, but it was eventually canned a few years later by a new governor who was doing "austerity". In other world, vermont would have a commuter rail, and you'd have 3 nickels.
Yes, although it wouldn't have been I-95! Vermont has surprisingly high transit usage around Burlington, a commuter rail there wouldn't not make sense.
edit: this is a stupid comment I did the usual thing where I confused burlington and brattleboro
@@MilesinTransit I just got back from spending half a week there, I can confirm, Moover busses go through downtown ALL THE TIME. I didn't have the chance to try them out, butsuposedly they're fare free now
Edit 2: In my defense the names sound the same. And brattleboro has fairly high amtrak ridership, and as previously mentioned, a lot of busses, so my brain is a lil small and it makes sense.
The automatic doors not fully opening in the airport station was a tell.
I’m an international student at south Florida and me and my fellow classmates use Tri Rail a lot! Be it for the airports, going to Miami or visiting my only relatives in the area. My experience has been pretty decent with a lot of space for improvement. I did read Tri Rail received some federal grants which they said is gonna be used for new Passenger cars and maybe new locomotives. They also are gonna improve their rolling stock (Better AC and WIFI). It’d be cool to see EMU being the rolling stock for Tri Rail in a near future.
Tap on tap off systems generally charge you the largest fare possible from the boarding station and then subtract when you get off. So it’s possible that regular riders getting off at the end of the line know that they won’t get any money back and don’t bother to tap their card.
12:02 That tone is on Siemens trains! It’s a higher pitched variation than ones I’ve heard on the SD-160, S200s, U2s etc. On MUNI, Calgary and Edmonton.
weekend service, crazy. if only sunrail had that lmao
ORLANDO will grow up someday! 😂🤣😋
I occasionally catch the Tri-Rail from FLL Airport to MIA Airport station as well as transfering to MetroRail to catch Marlins games. I wish Brightline built a station at FLL airport.
1st time I took Tri-Rail I was running late and just got on board assuming I could buy a ticket from the conductor after we departed. It was quite the surprise when a lady (armed!) came through the car to check tickets and I found out they don't do on board sales. Lesson learned!
From what I read, TriRail used to have a Palm Beach Airport train station.
I believe they've always just considered the West Palm Beach stop to be the airport connection point...I'm not aware of any Palm Beach Airport station!
I'm from Broward and take the Tri-Rail every time I fly out of MIA. It's the classic example of public transportation that is giving 0 love but has such a demand that even with horrible upkeep, it continually finds users (like me). Wish we would invest into the Tri-Rail and it's surrounding stations and not just build another lane on 95.
those look mad comfortable for a commuter rail
Don't be fooled, in my experience they were not. The seat padding felt rather thin.
When I flew into MIA for NACTO I had the same thought - so incredibly confusing.
Re it seeming overbuilt, they are planning to run thru service from west palm to Miami central. The transfer service is only temporary
My guess is that like the main library at the university I attended, they put the elevators in out of the way spots, and therefore would get more students to use the main stairwell, which was very nice and grand. even though the elevators are a bit out of the way, at least it's probably immediately available to anyone who actually needs to use an elevator. The elevators in Miami Central are probably rarely used, and probably are easier to maintain due to less traffic, and less usage. Probably if you were in a wheelchair, either staff would direct you to the elevator, or maybe there are signs at eye level for someone in a chair. They obviously want more people to use the escalators or stairs for continuous flow. Nice video, I heard of Tri-Rail, but didn't know the network, and wasn't interested enough to research it on my own. Whoever came up with the idea of running the Tri-Rail for the road construction needs an award for convincing South Florida politicians to go with the idea.
Ehh, I don't like that reasoning for putting elevators far away. For someone in an automatic wheelchair it'd be fine, but it's a VERY long walk for someone who has a manual one or is on crutches, for example.
Idk if you heard the news Miles, but NJ Transit will be free the week of Monday August 26th till September 2nd, I wonder if ur gonna make a video doing some cool route with NJT!
Possibly!
When I drive my 25 year old Ford Econoline the total weight is 2 tons, of which I (with stuff) account for about five percent. This means that 95 percent of the mass needed to get me somewhere just sits in the parking lot.
Miles, you have put me to shame! Lets say you way 150 pounds, a tri-rail train weights 297 tons. This means that on your solo trip you were .00025 of the total mass moved to your destination! You could have traveled in a presidential motorcade and still have been more energy efficient.
I don't think I can beat your vehicle to cargo ratio but I'm willing to try, maybe I can try a solo voyage on a cruise ship?
Keep it up, this stuff is fun.
This is such a funny calculation! Thanks so much.
Fun fact cypress creek has such little TOD that they put in a on demand shuttle to get you places.
Well at least the next train didn't overtake.
The tone for the announcement was the same as sound transit link and Muni
Ah, thank you!
The “old” and “90’s livery wasn’t the original 89’s livery, which is how it was when I rode it the first year it was in service (damn I’m old) 35 years ago.
It’s a cool and odd system, like all transit in Florida. It’s on the old Atlantic Seaboard/CSX tracks, which are further inland from their preferred route along the FEC, who originally declined them but now let Brightline use their tracks.
They always had shuttle buses running to the airports and east to the towns along the coast.
Fun fact I once stayed at the hotel at 2:50. You’re welcome for this information
Love tri rail trains and I saw them plenty times
@01:10 this scene is tense it really has florida vibes.
So for me when I was living in Hollywood, if I had to go to Miami airport it was......an adventure. YES an adventure. To get off and then go through the Intermodal center to be dropped off literally in the middle of a parking garage to then navigate either to get to the AA terminal or to traverse through all the parking garages to get to the Southside of the airport.
Also pain in butt to where i used to work because the end of the Metrorail being in Hialeah, just never made full sense to use it when my work was like another 10 minutes
Idk if it's the same type of train but we have SunRail here in Orlando. Unfortunately it only runs Monday through Friday. Considering the bowl games & other sporting events it would make sense for SunRail to operate on weekends.
I can't wait to ride the Grand Theft Auto equivalent of all these. We know the airport peoplemover is in as well as the MetroMover aka MetroMule. I feel like a Brightline/Tri-Rail parody is in since we're getting a whole state and leaked footage has proof of train stations in the second large city.
Praying to the ghost of Daniel Turner for MetroRail.
14 more months (estimated)
I do take the train daily for commuting, and take the Miami central shuttle up north for the 4:05. Usually has about 40-50 people on it.
Not too bad!
9:33 As a Torontonian, I remember those seats well 😅
I didn’t even know Florida had public transit outside of Disney World 😂
I just made that connection too...
Only the biggest tourist site gets decent public transit 😂
A State with 23 Million people and you thought we didn't have Public Transit?
@@xoxxobob61 it’s mostly sarcasm! I grew up outside Orlando, I know there’s busses and public transit available.
I took the first outbound Tri rail out of Miami central station in Jan. 2024 and was surprised how overbuilt the station is. no one uses tri-rail basically
at one point you were only 3 minutes from my house. can you imagine a 'miles in transit' meetup? I still have my clarinet from junior high as well
Tri-rail has been looking into implimenting express services from miami central to west palm making only a few stops which would probably have a massive use case
11:50 I think MiamiCentral is spelt that way because of Brightline's Branding, or just a typo XD
Oh yeah, I think you're right! It just looks kinda funny in plain text like that.
I'm watching this on the 26 in Cleveland and I was just laughing at my DEVIATION and this video popped up.
I was sad that you didn't show the Delray Beach stop on your ride north on the Tri-Star train. My grandparents used to live there and it would have been nice to see what the station looked like.
Haha, my grandparents also used to live in Delray! It looks similar to the others.
12:03 Muni metro stop announcement tone? Could also be Siemens LRVs in general idk
I think it's any siemens because the ones in the twin cities sound like that too
The muni one's D5-A4, which is also a perfect fourth, but a different one. This one, A4-E4, is such a common PA high-low chime it's hard to say what else you're thinking of Miles, it's maybe second only to C#5-A4 (e.g. nyc subway closing doors) and D5-B4 (e.g. airplane cabin paging)
Oh yeah, sorry, putting 1 and 1 together: I was thinking of the muni stops' PA arriving train tone which use D5-A4, but also their siemens equipment has prerecorded stop announcements that use A4-E4 like this
2:30 Not entirely related, but the Antelope Valley line of LA Metrolink is a similar story with a damaged freeway, CA 14, after an earthquake in 1994
And that's arguably the most scenic commuter rail line in the country, so I'm very grateful it exists!
Yeah, I normally post CT rail and transit comments, but I have to ask when you will be trying out Sun Rail?
Sun Rail is a really great system for what it is, some stations have lots of stuff to do and connections to cool stuff to do, others feel like you were dropped in the middle of nothing. I have done Dinner, museums, and bike trails from Sun Rail and it has always been a nice ride. Also pretty bike friendly, at least they don't complain when there are more bikes than they are designed for unless they are blocking the aisle.
If only it ran on weekends...
But I'm not sure when it'll get a video! I've only ridden it from Orlando to Kissimmee, but to justify a video I'd want to do the whole thing.
@@MilesinTransit you might want to wait if you want to ride the "whole" line as they are adding a new station on the north end. I normally ride from Tupperware to whatever activity I want to do. Yeah, the train really needs to run 7 days a week to be more useful as a connection to recreational activities.
Silver Star and Silver Meteor
I took a shuttle train during Ultra and it was PACKED. Until Tri-Rail gets new equipment/rolling stock, that's what they'll have to do for now. Also, you might think the Tri-Rail side is overbuilt but who's to say years down the line Tri-Rail isn't running a new-long train to the station?
In 1999 I arrived at MIA and the Tri-Rail shuttlebus driver literally spent too much time chatting with her friend. We missed the train by about 30 seconds and had to wait an hour. In no AC.
Note for tech geeks: Brightline's Miami Central (Downtown) Station features two (2) platform boarding heights: one for its Siemens' coaches, another for Tri-Rail trains.
The dimensions of that tri platform was one of the delays getting the service open, so it was fun to see a closeup. The other issue was the amount of incline into the station, which turned out to be fine when they checked with another engineer. South Florida, always an adventure, and accommodation.
So Tri-Rail is essentially NJ Transit's Atlantic City Line.
These are always fun. The wayfinding on the platform at the end is terrible! It might be worth emailing them about that, they need more signs.
Ayyy south florida represent!!
I had a job interview and I needed to take the tri rail because my car was broken down that day and I arrived at the station at 7:30 am to find out my train would not arrive until 7:46. The train continued to get delayed and I ended up missing my interview at 9 because someone jumped in front of the train.
I took the shuttle train when I was in Miami back in February and I was also the only person on it lol.
This video is everything I expected! When I heard you got there with 8 minutes to spare the nail biting began, as I knew alas you had made the innocent mistake of believing that Tri-Rail has functional ticketing services…even though you have an EASY card it’s still difficult! Now imagine trying to buy tickets with a group with 10 minutes before a train and none of the machines on your side of the platform work…welcome to Tri-Rail! 😂
Check out the South Shore line between Chicago and South Bend next!
New miles video!
Hahaha we got a good credits font on this episode 😂
Next Video: "Riding the Saddest Commuter Bus." Riding the Reno to Carson City RTC line. This bus goes from the 2nd most populous city in the state to the Capital, apital, and nobody is ever on it....
wow, I actually expected an LRT/people-mover style vehicle all the way, did not think there was a non-Brightline heavy rail option in Florida other than an occasional Amtrak.
Miami's Metro Rail (a Heavy Rail elevated Subway system) along with TRI-Rail, AMTRAK and Brightline are our Heavy Rail. You know we are semi-Civilized here in Florida! 😂🤣😋
@@xoxxobob61 don't have anything against Florida... but railways are not something I associate with the state...
@@stanislavkostarnov2157 Understandable but did you know that it was Henry Flagler's Railroad that created the cities of Palm Beach & Miami?Railroads built most of Florida.
@@xoxxobob61 I thought it was primarily shipping and harbors... I knew a railway existed to the Keys, which was what originally made them holiday destinations, but thought the rest of the railways were historically limited to sugar cane plantation trains...
@@stanislavkostarnov2157You might like the story of Julia Tuttle sending the orange blossoms to Henry Flagler during a freeze in Orlando, in order to convince him to bring the train to Miami, which barely existed at the time. All the subsequent South Florida towns were railroad towns, some with Flagler resort hotels. In Miami, intended as a place of clean living and edifying public culture, the Flagler hotel was the only place that allowed alcohol. Miami orange groves also turned out to be a temporary phenomenon.
50k soon!
Another commuter rail line opened to alleviate congestion cause by freeway construction is the Antelope Valley Line in LA
Sort of
I mean theres 2 caveats with that one.
First of all the freeway was damaged in the 1994 earthquake so it wasnt just construction it was repairs
And the line already existed for 2 years up to Santa Clarita but was extended to Lancaster for earthquake relief
Up to u how u wanna count that lol
I MISS SOUTH FLORIDA so so much
I live in Columbia SC. About three months ago I went down and did SunRail, Brightline, Tri-Rail and Metrorail. There are actually a lot of positives about Tri-Rail but maintenance and cleanliness isn't one of them. I actually thought the Metrorail cleanliness was far superior. They have different governing bodies. I wish Metrorail's governing body was Tri-Rail's.
Difference is Miami's Metro Rail is funded mostly by local taxes whereas TRI-Rail needs funding from the 3 Counties and the State of Florida!
Boaca Raton is also busy because it's a University stop. Edit: is the route of the Miami downtown shuttle shorter than the Princeton Dinky?
Princeton branch is only less than 3 mi. The Metrorail Transfer-MiamiCentral shuttle is much longer and takes SO long because of how slow the trains run