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The 21.5-mile Metrorail represents one of the longest elevated rapid transit systems in America.
Miami's Metrorail is one of the nations newest subway systems. The system is totally elevated because of the topography of Miami.
The system has 21 stations, each about a mile apart, extending through the city from northwest Miami to southwest Miami. The system opened in stages from 1984 to 1985 at a cost of over a billion dollars.
Miami's system has been criticized because it does not serve all the areas where commuters travel.
The system has 136 cars. The normal capacity of each is 166 passengers. Crush load capacity is 250 passengers per car. Currently, Metrorail operates at a MOS of 55 mph.
Service hours are from 5 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week. Headways are every five minutes during peak hours, 15 minutes during weekday off-peak hours and weekends. Metrorail averaged 47,900 daily riders.
With completion of a 1.9-mile downtown Metromover, Miami-Dade County became the first community in the world to have a people mover connected to a rail system. The size of Metromover doubled with the opening of the Brickell Financial District and Omni-Biscayne Metromover stops.
The Metromover is the more convenient way around downtown. The Metrorail makes one downtown stop at Government Center, and from there the Metromover takes commuters around the downtown area.
Metromover is a three-loop, automated people-mover system that serves downtown Miami, from Omni to Brickell, and connects with Metrorail at Government Center and Brickell stations. There are 21 Metromover stations, one about every two blocks.
Metromover links many of downtown's major office buildings Metromover has a Downtown inner loop and the Omni and Brickell legs on the outer loop. For easy travel around central downtown Miami, use the inner loop. Metromover cars serving Brickell and Omni alternate on the outer loop. The Omni and Brickell legs have six stations each that connect with the outer loop in central downtown.
Metromover cars have 90 second headways during rush hours and three minute headways during off-peak hours.
It consists of 29 single units with an original cost of $153.3 million. Later extensions costed $228 million.
Metromover is an elevated system of 4.4 miles with the original double loop at 1.9 miles, the Omni extension at 1.4 miles, and the Brickell extension with 1.1 miles.
Metromover operates three loops: the Downtown inner loop and the Brickell and Omni outer loops. There are 21 stations, nine on the inner loop and six each on the Brickell and Omni loops. Service Hours are from 5:30 a.m. to midnight M-F and on weekends and holidays from 6 a.m. to midnight. Metromover averages 12,700 daily rides.
Tri-Rail is a commuter rail line which extends 72 miles from Miami (at a station near the airport) to Mangonia Park (just north of West Palm Beach), with stations in intermediate locations such as Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Boca Raton. It is operated by the Tri-County Commuter Rail Authority, an agency of the State of Florida. Service began on January 9, 1989, as an alternative to the I-95 expressway during its reconstruction. It uses the CSX tracks (former Seaboard Coast Line) which mostly run alongside I-95.
Trains have one hour headways on weekdays, two hours on Saturdays, and three hours on Sundays. Free shuttle buses connect most Tri-Rail stations with nearby downtown areas and other important locations, including the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach airports. Passengers can also transfer between Tri-Rail and Metrorail at the Tri-Rail/Metrorail Transfer station.
Tri-Rail is the only regional commuter rail system in Florida. Trains run parallel to Interstate 95 servicing Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties. The line uses 10 diesel locomotives and 26 push-pull coaches. There are 18 stations between Miami Airport to Mangonia Park.
There are 8,500 weekday riders, 4,000 Saturday riders and 3,000 Sunday riders. Annually, 2.5 million ride TriRail.The maximum authorized track speed is 79 MPH. Locomotives have MOS's of 103 MPH.
The Miami-Dade Transit Authority is also building a new light rail system.
A light rail line is being built between downtown and the airport. Not much is known about it at this time, but it may prove to be a success. The above photo is a computer image of the line.
Although Miami's transit system, mainly the Metrorail, is maligned it serves to bring decent rapid transit to the city and someday Miamians might just find out what a blessing a rapid transit railway can be.