Tri-Rail expansion along Miami coast is halted for now over who would run the train

A state agency has halted a study needed for Tri-Rail to launch a northeast commuter line running between Miami and Aventura as local officials await a decision on who would run the trains.

The long-sought “Northeast” commuter route would run on tracks being installed for the Brightline railway that’s slated to launch service between West Palm Beach and Miami by the end of 2017. Miami-Dade had planned to subsidize Tri-Rail operating on the same tracks but serving more local stops, including Aventura and North Miami Beach.

That strategy ran into trouble recently when Brightline, a for-profit company, told Miami-Dade it might want to operate the commuter line itself, said Alice Bravo, the county’s transportation director.

She has been negotiating with Brightline and its corporate parent, Florida East Coast Industries, about how much the company would charge for Tri-Rail to use the passenger tracks installed to launch a passenger railway that’s eventually supposed to link Miami with Orlando.

Read more here from Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article170116992.html#storylink=cpy

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Elon Musk’s hyperloop idea is not realistic ‘right now,’ says Amtrak’s co-CEO

Amtrak’s president told CNBC on Tuesday he does not see the futuristic hyperloop — conceived by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk — overtaking traditional rail travel and transport anytime soon.

Asked to assess the practicality of high-speed hyperloop pods and Musk’s The Boring Company, Richard Anderson was skeptical. “I don’t think it’s realistic right now.”

“I’m glad there are people like that [who] dream about that. But I’m sort of focused on bridges and tunnels that are 100 years old that need some real infrastructure investment,” said Anderson, who was CEO of Delta Air Lines.

cnbc.com