MIAMI — Amtrak has ended plans to move its operations to a station at Miami International Airport.
The news site Miami Today reports that the passenger operator sent a short letter to officials involved with the Miami Intermodal Center at the airport, saying it “currently not feasible” to move operations of the Silver Meteor and Floridian to the airport facility.
The facility at the airport has been used by commuter operator Tri-Rail since 2015, but while a portion was built specifically for Amtrak, the company initially declined to move in because its long-distance trains would have blocked 25th Street at the north end of the station. Florida’s Transportation Department spent $5.6 million developing a bypass route to address that problem; after that was completed in 2017, Amtrak continued to balk at lease terms for the new station. Talks about a move were revived in 2022 [see “Amtrak switch to Miami airport station again moving forward,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 29, 2022], but no resolution resulted [see “Amtrak’s move to Miami airport station still in limbo,” News Wire, Jan. 8, 2024].
Serving the airport would have required a 4-mile backup move between Amtrak’s current station in Hialeah and the airport, because a loop at Hialeah is the nearest place to turn trains. The deadhead moves between Hialeah and the airport would have extended time on duty for Amtrak crews and decreased the servicing window. But the airport station offers better access to downtown, as well as access to rental-car facilities and other amenities not available in Hialeah.
The letter from Jim Blair, Amtrak assistant vice president, host railroads, said that decision was based on a recent evaluation of the intermodal center. He said the company will instead “advance our alternate plan” at the Hialeah facility, about 9 miles northwest of downtown (the airport facility is about 6 miles away). Work at Hialeah will begin in spring 2025 and continue into 2028, Blair wrote.
Amtrak’s decision became public at a meeting earlier this month of the Miami-Dade County Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust. The trust’s chairman, Robert Wolfarth, said the letter was “really kind of shocking” to get Amtrak’s letter, given that headway had been made on the lease and other issues. Ana Quero, rail administration manager for the Florida DOT, told the trust that the state will now try to find another use for the Amtrak portion of the station.
I think Penelope and David hit on two really great points.
First, I do think trains truly succeed when they serve city centers not airports (that is what mass transit does well) and the true loss is Miami doesn’t have one centrally located downtown station for Brightline, Amtrak and TriRail. The massing of these three rail services would make amenities come together such as rental car options, rideshares and taxis, so on.
Second, agree with David. Talk about some truly poor poor pathetic planning in age when you got all the digital and rendering tools to literally put together something together in a matter of days, if not weeks not to mention a basic understanding of what Amtrak wants.
Moving the interstate passenger train terminus to the airport really necessitates moving the service and inspection (S&I) facilities to the same general area. Hialeah is a dump, always has been. Moving to the proximity of the airport would have been a step up. This is yet another blown opportunity for improvement.
I agree with Amtrak on this one it will not work. Station does not have a wye, you are blocking city traffic, you’re blocking emergency equipment, the platform is too short, and you are drug violation of the American disabilities act. Sorry Miami international this won’t cut it Amtrak is not moving in until you fix this.
With foresight, Brightline should have collaborated with Amtrak and Tri-Rail on a new union station in Downtown Miami. The stub station would have a convenient wye for turning Amtrak trains as they arrive and reverse to the concourse while Brightline’s dual-ended trains and Tri-Rail’s push-pull trains run direct to the concourse.
As it stands, Amtrak’s current location in Hialeah (I call the “Emeryville of the East”) is farther than Miami International. This defeats the advantage of passenger trains serving city centres.
One of the reasons it is difficult to travel on Amtrak is a lack of car rental options at their stations. The airport has that. Will Hialeah?
When I was in Miami in 2021, I stayed near the airport in walking distance to this station. When I found out what a pain it was to get to Amtrak, I changed my reservation from the Miami Station to the Hollywood Station and took Tri-Rail. Amtrak is just being their stupid selves and not wanting to provide a service riders will actually use.
Amtrak management showing its arse. You have yard jobs at Hialeah. What would it take for them to run out engine lite and move the train to and from the yard.
Was thinking the same thing, James. How hard would it be to put another loco on the rear at Hialeah (or some other point “upstream”)? Or even a cab car, to eliminate the “backup move”? Not familiar with the topography there, but it seems that coming out of Hialeah in the opposite direction, with a proper lead car would eliminate the stated reason for the reticence on Amtrak’s part. (Then, we could get down tot he *real* reason they don’t want to go there….)
Is it really the end or just hardball negotiating? “Currently not feasible” has a tentative sound to it. The current station is far from hotels and lacks a convenient connection to nearby Tri-Rail and Metrorail routes.
I wonder if Brightline could be somehow enticed to serve this station. Maybe reconfigure some of their trainsets to use the low platforms?
Why would they serve this station? MiamiCentral is in a much better location than Miami Airport, and with much better amenities. Maybe you could use this for some of those proposed additional commuter lines to the south and west (or the one north toward Aventura), but Brightline has no need to go here.
The largest issue for Amtrak for this station was the fact that they had no access to the airport luggage facility. They wanted passengers to transfer to a train/plane seamlessly and have the luggage routed via the Amtrak loading area.
While all the other issues are operational with train backups etc. access to luggage was the first and loudest complaint.
One must remember that Amtrak had nothing to do with this station and its design and layout. It was foisted on them.
Wasn’t there a company called Parmalee Transfer that moved passengers and their luggage between their connecting Chicago terminals, pre-Amtrak? What’s the big deal? Sounds like a red tape problem with this issue. Is the Amtrak Hialeah facility where the Seaboard yard was? Didn’t they have a long backup to the Seaboard downtown station? Another big deal?
Sounds to me like the rent was too stinkin’ high.
I’m curious what other use one could find for the Amtrak part of the station. Maybe the tracks could be used to lay over additional Tri-Rail trains, but now that some of them go to MiamiCentral there’s not as much need for that. And I don’t think there’s going to be another private operator who would be able to use them. Likewise for the interior waiting area and ticketing office; maybe some sort of retail business?
This certainly smacks of serious poor planning and getting the cart before the horse. ~10 years of planning and failed execution? Someone had a badly conceived pet project.