ryanov wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2019 2:24 pm
I don’t see any advantage to this station over the current one. I’ve used TriRail to the Metro transfer station in roughly the same spot at the Amtrak station. It’s a kind of dingy looking area, but didn’t seem at all unsafe to me.
What is the use case for Amtrak to the airport? The Metro goes more places from the current Amtrak station. The branch to the airport requires a transfer to far more places than the current station does, and the two stations are roughly equivalent for going downtown.
What would be a win is getting the train downtown. Doesn’t Brightline run right to Government Center?
I'm confused, the metro doesn't go anywhere from the current Amtrak station. There are two bus routes, neither look frequent. The other alternative is to walk a quarter mile on not great sidewalks through a pretty industrial area to the Metro station. In terms of to and from the airport station, the Orange line seems to go just as many places as Amtrak passengers are likely to go since it overlaps the Green Line the entire route from Earlington Heights on all normal schedules. The only stations it misses seem to be primarily residential stations. It's also scheduled as slightly faster, MIA-Overton (Brightline) is 13 minutes via the Orange Line and 19 minutes via Tri-Rail. With the transfer time, it should be much faster for MIA-OVT since the station is right there, you don't have to go off-site.
njt/mnrrbuff wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2019 4:59 pm
Metrorail Transfer Station is in a dingy area but there are plenty of people who go through that station changing from Tri-Rail to Metrorail. Just be extra careful when at that station and leaving it.
I don’t think Amtrak will ever end at Miami Central. From looking at pictures, I see that the platforms aren’t long enough. Plus a yard would have to be built to handle Amtrak equipment.
Probably at this point, if the grade crossing issue can’t get straightened out just north of the MIC, it’s just better to have Amtrak stay where it is and then have a dedicated bus only for people who are transferring from their Amtrak train to Downtown Miami, and perhaps the cruise terminal.
I believe the grade crossing issues were resolved by a bypass and electronic signage routing drivers to the bypass when the normal route is blocked by a train.