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Unlike Brightline, Tri-Rail is a publicly funded commuter rail system. As taxpayers we pay for Tri-Rail’s service and equipment including the tracks, trains and stations. As a public transit system, it is designed to be a low-cost alternative to commuting by car and helps ease traffic congestion on our over-crowded highways.
As a public service, it is the responsibility of a Board of Directors and their appointed Executive Director to manage the system in the best interests of the public and to protect the public’s investment. Whether we are riders or not, we should all want the system to be effective and efficient.
As discussed in past Tri-Rail Board meetings, Tri-Rail’s passenger cars are up to 33 years old and, although newer, some of Tri-Rail’s locomotives are over 200% past their operating period recommended before overhaul.
During Steven Abrams tenure at Tri-Rail’s helm, Abrams’ appears to have only recommended costly piecemeal repairs when equipment failed instead of following standard industry overhaul practices. Abrams’ method of addressing the taxpayer funded track and fleet could be compared to driving your car for 100,000 miles without changing the oil and keeping your fingers crossed hoping the engine won’t fail. As this method doesn’t make sense for your personal vehicle, it also is clearly not an effective or cost-efficient way to protect the taxpayer’s multi-million dollar assets.
Last year, Tri-Rail’s Board ousted Steven Abrams and hired David Dech. Having a qualified leader at the helm, Tri-Rail finally seems to be moving in the right direction.
At his first Board meeting, Executive Director Dech recommended, and the Board approved comprehensive overhaul programs to begin to address the aging fleet’s failing reliability.
In his second Board meeting, Mr. Dech addressed more of Abrams’ neglect of taxpayer assets by recommending long delayed track maintenance, called rail grinding, and the repair of major damage at a train station that had been ignored since 2017.
Dech also took the right action by requiring all staff of this public service agency to finally return to their offices if they wanted to continue to receive a paycheck. Abrams had let staff, “work” from home, to manage the public train service for over two years.
Due to Abrams’ neglect, Tri-Rail has seen an increase in train delays due to equipment failure in the last couple of years. Unfortunately, years of neglect cannot be corrected overnight or even in several months. Mr. Dech will have to manage the system as best as possible as these programs proceed.
What other taxpayer assets were neglected during Abrams’ time as Executive Director and on the Board of Tri-Rail have yet to be discussed publicly. We can only assume if Abrams managed everything as poorly as he managed the Miami Central project, Mr. Dech, Tri-Rail and the riders will have to face more pain before our public train system can be turned around.
For the first time in Tri-Rail’s history, their next Board meeting will be held in Miami-Dade county. The meeting will be at 9:30AM on Friday, January 27th at the Commission Chambers of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center, located at 111 NW 1st Street, Miami, FL 33128. Anyone interested in the future of South Florida’s public transportation is welcome to attend.
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The rail system is not one person’s problem it , officials are allowing everything that suits them to be funded and kept up to date. Why should it service those who have no intention on utilizing it in along with others who has utilized it for years. The city is very much responsible for the maintenance on public transportation. That speaks volumes, if it was transporting and servicing those that shop at dolphin Mall , problems for sure would have not been ignored. I guess we all can for sure it will be extended to those areas now that they have managed to neglect the issues that have Mr. Abrams neglected until it put him out of a job or ignored and put off by officials in Miami so that would replace Mr. Abrams for someone who is more responsible and the loyal hero who saves the and for sure nothing will ever get this bad on his watch . I’m quite sure it will soon become transportation to serve those who contribute more to the overall cause then those in neighborhoods that are taxpayers as well that actually pay taxes as well and need it more to get to work because it’s all they have.As soon as other taxpayers of a different bracket gets interested in something that probably was never an interest to them in the past everything about that Tri rail system will change especially the cost, only certain people with certain reason to be on the train should be the only ones to ride, oh and let’s factor in the Stadium now being use as well for Nascar and other professional races to transport those in other areas that don’t pay any taxes but have decide as always they are entitled to use the way see fit and to serve them .Eventually it will cost others who pay for the danm thing so unforgettable until that won’t be able to ride and they will still be paying those taxes for it to be kept up on every aspect in order for the elite to enjoy for the sole purpose of their pleasure and let’s not forget because everyone else that struggles to make ends meet don’t deserve to ride. They won’t be around to much longer anyway because they won’t be able to afford to live in south Florida. That the truth of the matter. If they are talking about it the move is already in the making and has been for awhile. Miami is Not a special place anymore and neither is Florida.It use to be a nice place to come too that set it apart from the hustle and bustle of other places, now it just a some other Country that doesn’t welcome the people that actually made it so appealing to live and vaction.There is no room for everyday that just want to enjoy home as we always have.
Public transportation systems need to lead the way by getting out of the way and let private enterprise do or die. We pay enough taxes. Let the free market do what it does best instead of putting a higher burden on the County’s productive class.
They need to have tri-rail or metro-rail reach the underserved western communities in Dade county (FIU, Kendall, Dolphin Mall, etc..)