Miami Intermodal Center Progress

Decided to take a trip from Mangonia Park to Miami Airport and back today. Nothing interesting happened and the trains ran on time/early. When we arrived into Miami Airport station I was amazed at the construction going on. I knew they were building the metrorail connection from Earlington Heights to the new Miami Intermodal Center but I was very surprised at how far along they were in construction. Last time I was there it was a Rinker plant.



I'm assuming those the elevated structure is the metrorail extension.

Wish I got a pic of the rental car facility. Maybe I'll go one weekend when the fares are $5 instead of $12.

What looks to be an elevated rail line now spans LeJeune Road. Sorry, no photos.

-Kurt

That's the MIA Mover. Its MIC/MCS stop is supposed to be right on the other side of the Metrorail in the above photo.

Went to see how things are progressing, given that Tri-Rail was supposed to be stopping service to the airport station in "late spring" for two years and using Hialeah Market as the southern terminus while MCS is completed. Here are three pics taken from the Tri-Rail platform, from south to north:


The ends of the two Metrorail extension tracks, with the MIA mover track curving around in the background (look closely you can see a mover parked on the track)


What looks to be the main part of the station. I imagine the tall structure will be built out to extend over the Tri-Rail/Amtrak tracks and platform.


I can only guess that this modern, um, assemblage is the actual Metrorail stop since it covers the Metrorail tracks, but who knows. In the distance, the Metrorail tracks curve to the right and cross over the Tri-Rail/Amtrak/CSX tracks.

Rode Tri-Rail from Boca Raton to Miami yesterday. I was also surprised by the progress that's been made on the Miami Intermodal Center extension. We got on Metrorail at 79th Street, and they were single tracking between Northside and Earlington Heights. I wondered why, and when we got to the future junction it was perfectly obvious. They're completing track and signal work at the junction. We crossed over, and then ran through the turnback track to get back to the normal southbound track. Lost a bit of time doing all this. Sorry, no pictures.

The structure looks complete all the way to the airport, and track is in place. One wonders why there are still a couple of years of construction to go.

I forgot to post this earlier but the Miami Airport Station is closed for around two years and will be replaced by the new transit center at the airport. Here is a link:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/browar ... 6650.story

Noel Weaver

Looks like they're close to 6 months behind schedule since the airport station was originally supposed to close this past spring, then got pushed back to early summer, and now . . . .

The only good thing about the Hialeah Market station is the adjacent old SAL station.

I believe that the new station is open now. Has anybody been there lately? I guess that the greyhound station is still not directly at the Center but at MIAMI GREYHOUND STA, 4111 NW 27TH ST. However, it looks like it is only 2 blocks down the road. Is it possible to walk from the new intermodal station to the current Greyhound station? I know that Greyhound still serves some MIA terminal, but it would add an hour to the total travel time.

Partially open.

The airport mover (between the station/rental car facility and the airport), Metrobus, and Metrorail has been running to the station 2012. Tri-Rail service won't resume until at least December of this year, and perhaps Amtrak service as well.

As for Greyhound, if you're looking for Tri-Rail, you'll probably need to take a cab to the Hialeah Market station. The Metrorail station at MIC is a few blocks from Greyhound, but it's through a very industrial area. Walk at your own risk.

When will the station be open for Amtrak and Tri-Rail? I'm going to be down there in late January and early February of 2014. How is the construction going?

Don't figure on it being open that soon, there are too many "screw-up" on the part of the authorities and they have to be corrected at a big cost before full use can be made of this facility. You can still get to and from the Miami Airport by rail but it is by Metro Rail and a cross platform transfer at Earlington Heights (one stop from the airport), probably preferred to a bus ride although I don't know with lot of luggage.
Noel Weaver

Thanks. I will be taking Amtrak to Miami(Hialeah). Yes I will be taking Metrorail to MIC.

A bit of advice here, get off Amtrak at Hollywood and take a Tri-Rail train to Metro Rail Transfer Station and Metro-Rail from there. The Amtrak Station in Miami (Hialeah) does not connect with any other rail operation and the neighborhood is not an area you would want to walk especially if you are not totally familiar with that area. The two stations in Hialeah (Metro-Rail Transfer and Amtrak) are not that far apart but it is a bit too far for you do do on your own. Tri-Rail runs hourly although even better in the PM rush hours. You will need an additional ticket but it will be worth the effort and cost.
Noel Weaver

I heard that Amtrak's Hialeah Terminal is in a bad neighborhood and I will look into changing at Hollywood.

Media is saying that Tri-Rail will start arriving at MIC "in a couple of weeks." Nothing about Amtrak, though.