Miami station (Amtrak)

Last updated

Miami, FL
Amtrak station at Hialeah (Miami), October 2017.jpg
Miami station in October 2017
General information
Location8303 NW 37th Avenue
Miami, Florida
United States
Coordinates 25°50′59″N80°15′29″W / 25.84972°N 80.25806°W / 25.84972; -80.25806
Owned by Amtrak
Platforms2 island platforms
Tracks3
ConnectionsAiga bus trans.svg Metrobus: 42, 112
Construction
ParkingYes
AccessibleYes
Other information
Station code Amtrak: MIA
History
OpenedJune 20, 1978
Passengers
FY 202250,992 [1] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station BSicon LOGO Amtrak2.svg Amtrak Following station
Terminus Silver Meteor Hollywood
toward New York
Silver Star
Former services
Preceding station BSicon LOGO Amtrak2.svg Amtrak Following station
Terminus Palmetto
2002–2004
Hollywood
toward New York
Silver Palm
1996–2002
Hollywood
toward Los Angeles
Sunset Limited
1993–1996
Terminus
Terminus Silver Palm
1982–1985
Hollywood
toward Tampa
Floridian
1971–1979
Hollywood
toward Chicago
Location
USA Florida location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Miami, FL
Location within Florida
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Miami, FL
Miami, FL (the United States)
Miami station (Amtrak)

Miami station is a train station in Miami-Dade County, Florida, on the border of Miami and Hialeah. It is the southern terminus for Amtrak's Silver Meteor and Silver Star trains. The station opened in 1978 to replace a 48-year-old Seaboard Air Line Railroad station. It is several blocks away from the Tri-Rail and Metrorail Transfer Station, but there is no direct connection between the two. The station was meant to be replaced in the mid-2010s by the Miami Intermodal Center next to the airport just to the south, but the platforms were too short (they can accommodate 10 car trains but not 12 car trains that are used in the winter). Negotiations are ongoing between Amtrak and FDOT. [2] [3]

Contents

History

An Amtrak train at the ex Seaboard Air Line Railroad station in 1972 Amtrak train at Miami, November 1972.jpg
An Amtrak train at the ex Seaboard Air Line Railroad station in 1972
The Silver Meteor departs on June 20, 1978 - the first train to use the new station First train to leave new Miami station, June 1978.jpg
The Silver Meteor departs on June 20, 1978 - the first train to use the new station

When Amtrak took over intercity passenger service in May 1971, it continued to use the former Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) depot at 2210 NW 7th Avenue in Allapattah, two miles north of downtown. The SAL station, built in 1930, soon began to show its age. On May 13, 1977, Amtrak began construction of a new station near the SAL's Hialeah Yards. [4]

Opened on June 20, 1978, the building is one of many built under Amtrak's Standard Stations Program, an attempt to create a unified brand and identity for the company's passenger facilities in its early years. It is considered a Type 300A station, meaning it was designed to accommodate at least 300 passengers at the busiest hour of the day. It is nearly identical to the now closed Midway station in Saint Paul, Minnesota, which was also built in 1978. [5]

The building measures 85 feet (26 m) by 175 feet (53 m) with 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of floor space, with a large waiting room and other passenger facilities on the ground floor. A mezzanine houses a lounge and Amtrak regional offices. The $5.7 million station construction project ($25.6 million adjusted for inflation) included the fully handicapped accessible station, a 269-car parking lot, and two 2,000 foot (610 m)-long platforms to handle Amtrak's lengthy Florida trains. [4] A loop track runs around the station complex, allowing trains to be turned around for their northbound trips. The last trains arrived at the ex-SAL station on June 19, 1978; the northbound Silver Meteor departed from the new station on June 20 shortly before the ribbon-cutting ceremony. [4] [6]

In the early 1990s, the Florida Department of Transportation began planning an intermodal station to link Tri-Rail, Amtrak, and Metrorail to the Miami International Airport. These plans were completed as the Miami Intermodal Center, located 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the current station and an equal distance west of downtown. Metrorail opened to the station in 2012, Tri-Rail commuter trains began serving the new platforms in April 2015, and Amtrak was originally expected to serve this station in 2016, but an error during design resulted in the constructed platforms too short to accommodate the longer trains Amtrak uses during the winter. The original design would have resulted in grade crossings being blocked by the last cars of these longer trains. [7] [8] After changes to traffic patterns around the station, Amtrak was initially expected to move to Miami Airport Station in late 2018. [9] [10] By late 2018, the move had been postponed indefinitely. [11]

In 2021, Amtrak reached out to FDOT to begin negotiations again for utilization of the Miami Intermodal Center. Test train operations began in February 2022 with negotiations continuing. [12] [13]

Station layout

The station has three tracks with two low-level platforms. The station building is located south of Track 1 and directly adjacent to the eastern platform

P Platform levelTrack 3      Silver Service toward New York (Hollywood)
Island platform, doors will open on the left or right Wheelchair symbol.svg
Track 2      Silver Service toward New York (Hollywood)
Island platform, doors will open on the left or right Wheelchair symbol.svg
Track 1      Silver Service toward New York (Hollywood)
Street levelEntrance/exit, station building, parking, buses

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tri-Rail</span> Commuter rail service in South Florida

Tri-Rail is a commuter rail service linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The Tri prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Tri-Rail is managed by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) along CSX Transportation's former Miami Subdivision; the line is now wholly owned by the Florida DOT. The 80.0-mile-long (128.7 km) system has 19 stations along the Southeast Florida coast, and connects directly to Amtrak at numerous stations, to Metrorail at the Tri-Rail and Metrorail Transfer station, Miami Intermodal Center, and MiamiCentral, and to Brightline at MiamiCentral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seaboard Coast Line Railroad</span> Transport company

The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lines to create the Seaboard System in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hialeah Market station</span>

Hialeah Market is a Tri-Rail commuter rail station in Hialeah, Florida. The station is located on Southeast 10th Court near Southeast 14th Street, opening to January 1989 as Miami Airport station. It was the southern terminus of Tri-Rail line until a new station was built closer to the airport in 1998. The name was changed to Hialeah Market Station at this point. The other Miami Airport station was closed on September 12, 2011, and this station's name was changed to Hialeah Market/Miami Airport station. The name was changed back to Hialeah Market station again in 2015 after Tri-Rail began serving Miami Airport station. Parking is available at this station. Immediately north of the station is the historic Hialeah Seaboard Air Line Railway Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tri-Rail and Metrorail Transfer station</span> Miami-Dade Transit metro station

Tri-Rail and Metrorail Transfer station is a Metrorail and Tri-Rail interchange station in Hialeah, Florida, northwest of the city of Miami proper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government Center station (Miami)</span> Miami-Dade Transit metro station

Government Center station is an intermodal transit hub in the Government Center district of Downtown Miami, Florida. It is operated by Miami-Dade Transit and serves as a transfer station for the Metrorail and Metromover rapid transit systems and as a bus station for Metrobus, Paratransit, and Broward County Transit buses. MiamiCentral is directly connected via a pedestrian bridge over NW 3rd Street. The station is located near the intersection of Northwest First Street and First Avenue, a part of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center Building. It opened to service May 20, 1984, next to the site of a former FEC railway station which is now MiamiCentral.

<i>Silver Meteor</i> Amtrak service between New York and Florida

The Silver Meteor is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Miami, Florida. Introduced in 1939 as the first diesel-powered streamliner between New York and Florida, it was the flagship train of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) and one of the flagship trains of its successor, the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL). The train was transferred to Amtrak when it took over intercity passenger rail service in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollywood station (Florida)</span> Train station in Florida, United States

Hollywood station is a train station in Hollywood, Florida, which is served by Tri-Rail and Amtrak. The station is located at 3001 Hollywood Boulevard, just west of I-95 and State Road 9.

<i>Silver Star</i> (Amtrak train) Amtrak service between New York and Florida

The Silver Star is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on a 1,522-mile (2,449 km) route between New York City and Miami via Washington, D.C., Richmond, Virginia, Raleigh, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida, and Tampa, Florida. The Silver Star and its sister train in the Silver Service brand, the Silver Meteor, are the descendants of numerous long-distance trains that operated between Florida and New York for most of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Lauderdale station</span> Train station in Florida

Fort Lauderdale station is a train station in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is served by Tri-Rail and Amtrak. The station is located on Southwest 21st Terrace, just south of West Broward Boulevard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Palm Beach station</span> Train station

West Palm Beach station is a train station in West Palm Beach, Florida. It is served by Amtrak passenger rail and Tri-Rail commuter rail service. It is located at 203–209 South Tamarind Avenue, south of First Street/Banyan Boulevard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miami Intermodal Center</span> Ground transportation hub for Miami International Airport

Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) is an intermodal rapid transit, commuter rail, intercity rail, local bus, and intercity bus transportation hub in Miami-Dade County, Florida, just outside the Miami city limits near the Grapeland Heights neighborhood. The facility was constructed by the Florida Department of Transportation and is owned by the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocala Union Station</span> Historic passenger train station in Ocala, Florida

The Ocala Union Station is a bus station and former train station in Ocala, Florida, United States. It is located at 531 Northeast First Avenue, and was built in 1917 by both the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Prior to this, ACL and SAL had separate depots in Ocala. The former ACL station was originally built by the Florida Southern Railroad, while the former SAL station was built by the Florida Transit and Peninsular Railroad. On December 22, 1997, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metrorail (Miami-Dade County)</span> Rapid-transit rail system in Miami, Florida

Metrorail is a rapid transit system in Miami and Miami-Dade County in the U.S. state of Florida. Metrorail is operated by Miami-Dade Transit (MDT), a departmental agency of Miami-Dade County. Opened in 1984, it is Florida's only rapid transit metro system, and is currently composed of two lines of 23 stations on 24.4 miles (39.3 km) of standard gauge track. Metrorail serves the urban core of Miami, connecting Miami International Airport, the Health District, Downtown Miami, and Brickell with the northern developed neighborhoods of Hialeah and Medley to the northwest, and to suburban The Roads, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, and South Miami, ending at urban Dadeland in Kendall. Metrorail connects to the Metromover in Downtown, which provides metro service to the entirety of Downtown and Brickell. Additionally, it connects to South Florida's commuter rail system at Tri-Rail station, as well as Metrobus routes at all stations. In 2022, the system had 11,951,400 rides, and about 45,400 per day in the third quarter of 2023.

<i>Champion</i> (train)

The Champion was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Florida East Coast Railway between New York City and Miami or St. Petersburg, Florida. It operated from 1939 until 1979, continuing under the Seaboard Coast Line and Amtrak. It was a direct competitor to the Seaboard Air Line Railway's Silver Meteor, the first New York-Florida streamliner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildwood station</span>

Wildwood station is a bus station, and former train station, in Wildwood, Florida. It serves Amtrak Thruway buses and formerly served trains for Amtrak and other rail companies. The station is located on 601 North Main Street in Wildwood, Florida. Along with the northern terminus of Florida's Turnpike, the station gave Wildwood a reason to refer to itself as "The Crossroads of Florida."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MIA Mover</span>

The MIA Mover is an automated people mover (APM) system which opened at the Miami International Airport (MIA) in metropolitan Miami, Florida, United States on September 9, 2011. The MIA Mover is designed to quickly transport landside passengers between Miami International Airport's Main Terminal and the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC). The MIA Mover is one of three separate automated people movers operating at the airport. The others are the Skytrain, which operates within Concourse D, and the MIA e Train people mover connecting Concourse E's satellite building.

Miami Station may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seaboard–All Florida Railway</span>

The Seaboard–All Florida Railway was a subsidiary of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad that oversaw two major extensions of the system in the early 1920s to southern Florida on each coast during the land boom. One line extended the Seaboard's tracks on the east coast from West Palm Beach down to Fort Lauderdale and Miami, while the other extension on the west coast extended the tracks from Fort Ogden south to Fort Myers and Naples, with branches from Fort Myers to LaBelle and Punta Rassa. These two extensions were heavily championed by Seaboard president S. Davies Warfield, and were constructed by Foley Brothers railroad contractors. Both extensions also allowed the Seaboard to better compete with the Florida East Coast Railway and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, who already served the lower east and west coasts of Florida respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MiamiCentral</span> Brightline and Tri-Rail train station

MiamiCentral is a train station in Miami, Florida. Located in Downtown Miami, the station provides access to the Brightline inter-city rail service and the Tri-Rail commuter rail service. The station is part of a 9-acre (3.6 ha) mixed-use complex, which includes 3 million square feet (280,000 m2) of residential, office, commercial, and retail development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clearwater Subdivision</span>

The Clearwater Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. The line begins just east of downtown Tampa in Gary and heads north through some of Tampa's suburban neighborhoods. In Sulphur Springs, the Clearwater Subdivision turns and runs west through Oldsmar, where it crosses Tampa Bay. It briefly shifts south running through Safety Harbor, and then heads west again to Clearwater. In Clearwater, it turns southeast, running through Largo and Pinellas Park before terminating at Fifth Avenue North in St. Petersburg near Tropicana Field. The distance from Gary to St. Petersburg along the line is 48.6 miles (78.2 km). At the line's north end it continues from the Tampa Terminal Subdivision and at its south end the track comes to an end.

References

  1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2022: State of Florida" (PDF). Amtrak. June 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  2. "Unused Miami International Airport hub for Amtrak needs upgrades".
  3. "Amtrak Board of Directors Meeting" (PDF).
  4. 1 2 3 "New Miami Station Dedicated, Open House Celebrates Event". Amtrak News . Amtrak. 5 (7): 1–2. July 1978.
  5. The Amtrak Standard Stations Program Amtrak
  6. Rochester Gets New Station, Amtrak Week Proclaimed By Mayor Amtrak News August 1, 1978 pages 2/3
  7. Viglucci, Andres (January 5, 2013). "At new Miami train station, too-short platform to require costly fixes". Miami Herald . Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  8. Krauth, Dan (February 13, 2015). "Miami Central Station Project Mistake Costing Taxpayers Millions". WTVJ . Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  9. Alfonso Chardy (January 29, 2017). "The trains are too long, the platform is too short. Bad news for the new station". Miami Herald. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  10. "Background". Miami Intermodal Center. Florida Department of Transportation. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  11. Entin, Brian; Francois, Tania (November 5, 2018). "Off the Rails: Amtrak station built near MIA with taxpayer dollars goes unused". WSVN . Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  12. "Amtrak Begins Active Preparations To Launch Service To Miami Intermodal Center". The Next Miami. Retrieved March 13, 2022.[ permanent dead link ]
  13. Johnston, Bob (January 8, 2024). "Amtrak's move to Miami airport station still in limbo". Trains. Retrieved January 8, 2024.