Visiting our friends up north in West Palm Beach isn’t always easy, having to account for the distance, costs and even traffic. However, Tri-Rail is introducing a new express service between Palm Beach and downtown Miami, with travel times expected to be reduced by more than 30 minutes.
Set to begin on July 1st, this addition will offer passengers a direct, one-seat ride with limited stops at the Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport and Metrorail Transfer Station in Hialeah, before arriving at MiamiCentral in downtown Miami. This means passengers won’t have to worry about transferring to a shuttle train when going in and out of the Miami station.
The express train will operate only on weekdays and there will be only one train each day. It will leave West Palm Beach at 6:30 a.m. and reach MiamiCentral at 8:05 a.m. In the evening, a return train will depart from Miami at 5:35 p.m. and arrive to West Palm at 7:05 p.m.
Tri-Rail said it remains committed to maintaining its current schedule of 26 trains operating on weekdays and 23 on weekends for MiamiCentral, with non-express trains still transferring at the Metrorail Transfer Station.
“By offering a one-seat ride and reducing travel time, we aim to provide an enhanced commuting experience for our passengers and attract new riders to Tri-Rail,” Dave Dech, executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, said in a news release.
The rail line also stated that it will work to bring later departure times to and from the Miami Airport Station to accommodate increased airport traffic and make it easier for airport employees working late shifts to utilize Tri-Rail.
More information and updates about the service can be found on Tri-Rail’s website and social media. According to an online Tri-Rail fare calculator, the cost of a roundtrip from Miami to West Palm Beach is about $17.50.
Passengers can expect copies of the revised schedule to be available in the weeks leading up to the implementation date, July 1.