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We want mass transit in Miami. But the Tri-Rail and Brightline train mess isn’t helping | Editorial

Tri-Rail has a partnership with Uber.

The colossal construction error came to light last month: A tax-funded Miami train depot was built too narrow to actually be used by Tri-Rail trains. It’s the kind of blunder that makes you ask: Didn’t anyone measure?

Now the head of the agency that governs the Tri-Rail train system said Friday he’ll resign, and no one is surprised.

The mistake, part of a $70 million project to bring Tri-Rail trains into downtown Miami, happened on Director Steven Abrams’ watch. He didn’t raise the alarm until last month, even though Tri-Rail engineers called it a ”serious construction defect” in a report in April. He had to go.

Whoever replaces him — and we hope at this point that we are stating the obvious — needs to be someone with expertise in transit, and specifically, trains. Abrams is a lawyer and a former mayor of Boca Raton.

But his resignation during a meeting of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority will barely begin sorting out all the problems between the authority and Brightline, the for-profit company with tracks that run east of Tri-Rail’s. And with every month of delay in getting Tri-Rail trains running into downtown Miami, we all remain stuck on clogged highways that need the relief of more mass transit.

How long must we wait?

The plan to bring Tri-Rail into downtown Miami still sounds like a good one. The idea was to create a public-private partnership and use a nine-mile track extension to bring the low-priced, north-south commuter trains, with stations in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, into a platform at the Miami Central station that Brightline was already building.

But it has been bogged down with problems for years; it was originally slated to open back in 2017. There have been questions about whether the viaduct, or ramp, that will bring the trains into the station is strong enough. No one seems to know why Tri-Rail still must put in place new train software that could take months. Brightline has accused Tri-Rail of slow-rolling decisions. The platform may not open until the end of the year.

And then there’s the issue with trains that are too wide. The platform must be somehow modified to get the trains into the station. Abrams, who is still negotiating his exit, offered a timetable for modifying the steps that would start the manufacturing work this summer.

It’s not a recipe for confidence in the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority or Brightline. That’s especially relevant because Miami-Dade wants to build a commuter line between Miami and Aventura. And, yes, you guessed it: It’s the same two parties involved. Brightline has a county contract to build the Aventura station, and Tri-Rail hopes to serve as operator of the line.

The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority has a lot of work ahead. It must fix the many problems at the Miami station. It needs to rebuild public trust in the idea that anyone, in either organization, knows what they’re doing. It has to think about whether it’s wise to move forward with these players in Aventura.

And one more thing. This time, could someone please double-check the measurements?