Tri-Rail crash disrupts opening day of express service to downtown Miami – Sun Sentinel

A pedestrian was struck and killed by a Tri-Rail commuter train in Pembroke Park early Monday morning. The accident interrupted the opening of the railroad’s new express service to downtown Miami, a company spokesman confirmed.

The train was traveling northbound when the incident occurred just before 5:30 a.m. on a stretch of track between Hallandale Beach Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard in the city of Pembroke Park. The victim was not immediately identified.

The accident effectively halted the inaugural run of a southbound express train that had originated in West Palm Beach and was scheduled to travel to Miami Central Station.

Spokesman Victor Garcia said the company requested buses to transfer southbound express train passengers whose train journey ended at a scheduled stop at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport station on Griffin Road. They were transported by bus to the MetroRail transfer station in Hialeah, where they took other Tri-Rail trains or MetroRail to their final destinations.

Passengers on later trains were bused from Hollywood to the Golden Glades station, where they transferred to Tri-Rail trains to continue their journey to other stations in Miami-Dade.

Garcia said the northbound train involved in the accident departed from Miami International Airport, stopped at Hollywood Station and unloaded passengers, who then had to transfer to another train to continue their journey north.

The tracks at the accident site were cleared and trains resumed uninterrupted service in the area at 9 a.m., Garcia said. The first northbound express train of the day was scheduled to depart MiamiCentral for West Palm Beach at 5:35 p.m.

In late May, Tri-Rail announced its “one-transfer” service from West Palm Beach to downtown Miami, starting Monday. A southbound train will depart at 6:05 a.m. and arrive at 8:05 a.m. The return northbound train will leave Miami at 5:35 p.m. and arrive in West Palm Beach at 7:05 p.m.

The express trains, which run on the state rail corridor that runs mostly west of I-95, stop in Boca Raton, a Griffin Road station near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and a MetroRail transfer station before continuing east to MiamiCentral station. Tri-Rail operates 19 stations in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties and has its southernmost terminus at Miami International Airport.