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When will Amtrak land in the new Miami Central Station

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When will Amtrak land in the new Miami Central Station
Posted by BobInMa on Monday, January 12, 2015 8:32 PM

Our favorite winter week is an annual round trip to south Florida on the Meteor.

Terminus is in Hialeah and getting to car rental is a bear.

Heard tell the new Miami Central Station is at the airport right next to car rentals.

This year we'll have to disembark in Hollywood and take TriRail to the new station, but will love it when Amtrak terminates there.

Yeah, I know about the platform length fiasco - oh, well - but I thought turns and other problems challenges had been worked out.

What's the problem?

The Google doesn't seem to provide a clue beyond the way-out-of-date FLDoT WebSite.

Anyone?

Many thanks!

Tags: Amtrak , MCS , Miami
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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, January 14, 2015 5:20 PM

I don't know about other companies, but Enterprise has an office less than two and a half miles from the station. Granted, it is open only 8-6 M-F and 9-noon on Saturdays.

Johnny

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Posted by BobInMa on Thursday, January 15, 2015 11:54 AM

Deggesty

I don't know about other companies, but Enterprise has an office less than two and a half miles from the station. Granted, it is open only 8-6 M-F and 9-noon on Saturdays.

 

Thanks for the thought, but the Meteor is scheduled to arrive HOL @ 6:18 and MIA @ 6:55. The TriRail connection works but adds another hour or more to the end of a 30+ hour trip. The opening of the MCS will cut that transfer time out. I wonder why the radio silence from FLDoT?!?

Anyone?

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Posted by gardendance on Thursday, January 15, 2015 2:17 PM

Be careful, you may get what you wish. Airport car rentals usually have a surcharge that doesn't apply at offsite facilities.

And sometimes municipalities apply car rental surcharges at train stations. It's been ages since I've rented a car at Philadelphia 30th St, but I have a vague memory that I had to pay a surcharge there that I wouldn't have had to pay at 19th and Market, and didn't find out till it was too late to cancel and rebook the rental and still get a favorable base rate.

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Posted by MikeF90 on Thursday, January 15, 2015 3:14 PM

I confirmed that, like L.A., the 'Curbed' internet media sites track local transportation issues pretty well:

http://miami.curbed.com/places/miami-central-station

The latest opening date seems to be ........ this month?

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-tri-rail-miami-airport-20141015-story.html

We know how much Amtrak cares about non-NEC improvements, so I would contact someone at Tri-Rail for status. Good luck!

Paging @blue streak 1 .... Idea

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, January 15, 2015 7:08 PM

BobInMa

Our favorite winter week is an annual round trip to south Florida on the Meteor.

Terminus is in Hialeah and getting to car rental is a bear.

Heard tell the new Miami Central Station is at the airport right next to car rentals.

This year we'll have to disembark in Hollywood and take TriRail to the new station, but will love it when Amtrak terminates there.

Yeah, I know about the platform length fiasco - oh, well - but I thought turns and other problems challenges had been worked out.

What's the problem?

The Google doesn't seem to provide a clue beyond the way-out-of-date FLDoT WebSite.

Anyone?

Many thanks! 

I don't know the answer to your question.  

I appreciate your setting out your views in simple, declarative sentences.

And not running them all together.  You must know something about paragraphs.

Most of all, however, I appreciate your not directing us to a lengthy article in some unknown source.

You have sumarized the questions and issues nicely.

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Posted by trackrat888 on Monday, January 19, 2015 3:38 PM

Already one of my least favorite stations along with MILK. Too cold airport like and cold airport benches.

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Posted by BobInMa on Tuesday, January 20, 2015 11:08 AM

Thanks Sam1.

It's a simple question and there's little in this world these days that's simple.

Not that actually getting an answer is in any way simple.

Life is a mystery.

Tags: Amtrak , Miami , MCS , TriRail
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Posted by Alan F on Friday, January 23, 2015 11:41 PM

Tri-Rail is now expected to open at the new Miami Central Station in late March or April. No word on when Amtrak will move to MCS. The latest delay is not on Amtrak, but due to contractual problems with insurance and transferring the property to the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority. Which is something that should have been taken care of while the MCS was being built, IMO. See the Sun-Sentinel article: Tri-Rail's Miami Airport station won't open until spring

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Posted by BobInMa on Saturday, January 24, 2015 5:21 PM

Alan F

Tri-Rail is now expected to open at the new Miami Central Station in late March or April. No word on when Amtrak will move to MCS. The latest delay is not on Amtrak, but due to contractual problems with insurance and transferring the property to the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority. Which is something that should have been taken care of while the MCS was being built, IMO. See the Sun-Sentinel article: Tri-Rail's Miami Airport station won't open until spring

 

Alan F

Tri-Rail is now expected to open at the new Miami Central Station in late March or April. No word on when Amtrak will move to MCS. The latest delay is not on Amtrak, but due to contractual problems with insurance and transferring the property to the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority. Which is something that should have been taken care of while the MCS was being built, IMO. See the Sun-Sentinel article: Tri-Rail's Miami Airport station won't open until spring

 

Ouch to a prefect yet unwelcome answer.
Hialeah Market - Airport shuttle stinks.
Ah well, maybe it'll be Amtrak in late winter '16. 
Thanks, Alan F!

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Posted by krtraveler on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 2:38 PM

But, wait, it gets worse

Miami Central Station, part of a $2 billion transit center east of Miami International Airport, will now open in two phases: the Tri-Rail station this spring and the Amtrak station in summer 2016, said Ric Katz, a spokesman for the Miami Intermodal Center, known as MIC.

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Posted by BobInMa on Friday, August 25, 2017 12:50 PM

I'm back with my time honored but unanswered question.

Is anyone clueful as  to when Amtrak's Silver Service will land in Miami Central Station?

Latest rumor I heard was Fall 2017, but over the years (YEARS!) I've heard many dates that came and went.

Please, does anyone know anything?

Bushels of thanks!

 

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Posted by runnerdude48 on Saturday, August 26, 2017 9:48 AM

You're dealing with the government here.  No one knows anything and if they do then they won't say for fear that they will be demoted (nobody is ever fired in government no matter how incompetent) to a job that they don't want.  It is only going to get worse.  If you want easy rental car accessibility then fly, otherwise take a cab.  Last time I took a cab to the rental center from Hialeah station it cost less than $20.  Less than the cost of one dinner.  You don't want to be walking around that neighborhood in Hialeah at night (or the daytime for that matter) or trying to figure out the busses either.  When I returned the car I had the shuttle van take me directly to the airport and he stopped at the last cab in line, I hopped in and we were at the station in a few minutes.  There are not always cabs at the rental center and they have to be called.  You'll have to pay an airport surcharge but it is less stressful then waiting for a cab hoping you will get to the station in time for an early morning departure.  Have a good trip.

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Posted by BobInMa on Saturday, August 26, 2017 11:23 AM

In other words, Mr Runnerdude48, you don't know.

I think rather than a generic "it's the government", it's the whoever has jurisdiction over closing NW 25th St, Florida DoT and Amtrak.

Be that as it may, I don't really care about who's at fault.
I just want to know when Amtrak will discharge and accept Silver Service passengers at the super convenient MCS.

Our strategy for the last 2 years has been to get off in Hollywood and take TriRail for the 4 stops to MCS, pick up a car and get outa Dodge Miami.
TriRail connections are frequent (hourly through the evening) and take about 40 minutes to get to MCS.
Assuming Amtrak running on time, it's Hialeah at 6:39 then say about a 20 minute cab ride geting us to MCS at around 7:00.
Amtrak's Hollywood stop is at 5:59.
Connecting to a 6:11 TriRail gets us to MCS at 6:50.
Not a meaningful difference, except Hollywood is MUCH nicer than industrial park Hialeah.

Bottom line:
You're right.
It seems like nobody really knows when Amtrak will use MCS and if they do, they ain't tellin'.

Hell of a way to run a railroad.
Thanks anyway.

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Posted by CMStPnP on Saturday, August 26, 2017 9:59 PM

runnerdude48

You're dealing with the government here.  No one knows anything and if they do then they won't say for fear that they will be demoted (nobody is ever fired in government no matter how incompetent) to a job that they don't want.  It is only going to get worse.  If you want easy rental car accessibility then fly, otherwise take a cab.  Last time I took a cab to the rental center from Hialeah station it cost less than $20.  Less than the cost of one dinner.  You don't want to be walking around that neighborhood in Hialeah at night (or the daytime for that matter) or trying to figure out the busses either.  When I returned the car I had the shuttle van take me directly to the airport and he stopped at the last cab in line, I hopped in and we were at the station in a few minutes.  There are not always cabs at the rental center and they have to be called.  You'll have to pay an airport surcharge but it is less stressful then waiting for a cab hoping you will get to the station in time for an early morning departure.  Have a good trip.

Getting off at the downtown Milwaukee station and taking a cab back to the Milwaukee airport is also about $20 and probably takes the same amount of time as going through the Milwaukee airport station and waiting /  getting on the shuttle bus.

However, folks will depart the train at the airport station every single time to save that $20 and because they never tried the alternative.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Thursday, September 7, 2017 5:55 PM

maybe we better wait until Irma get thru MIAMI .  Then we might know tomorrow , next year or never dempending on what gets damaged ?.  Might wonder about Brightline as well ?

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Posted by MikeF90 on Friday, September 8, 2017 8:04 PM

Surprised that no one has shown this Tri-Rail page:

 http://www.tri-raildowntownmiamilink.com/

Some of the project milestones may be applicable to Amtrak service.

Of course, the non-contributing (?) Amtrak appears nowhere on the web site.

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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, September 8, 2017 9:45 PM

blue streak 1
maybe we better wait until Irma get thru MIAMI .  Then we might know tomorrow , next year or never dempending on what gets damaged ?.  Might wonder about Brightline as well ?

Irma appears to be shifting to a Western Florida track....

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by CMStPnP on Wednesday, September 13, 2017 7:49 AM

blue streak 1
maybe we better wait until Irma get thru MIAMI .  Then we might know tomorrow , next year or never dempending on what gets damaged ?.  Might wonder about Brightline as well ?

Their stations should fare really well given the building codes in and around Miami now and that they are concrete and most are sheltered via surrounding buildings.     The high rise apartments they are building probably a different story.

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