Tri-Rail trains getting makeover
FORT LAUDERDALE - Tri-Rail's emblematic "blue skies, white clouds, and palm trees" trains are getting a makeover. "They need to improve it, paint it, give it an update now," said Marie as she waited for a train in Pompano Beach.
Standing next to a train, peeling off pieces of the wrap that is now on the train, Tri-Rail Executive Director David Dech said, "This stuff will come off, but some of this is just completely baked on. We have to remove all these wraps," he said. "As soon as we took the dirt and grime off the trains, it was clear that these have had it," Dech said.
The new design will cost two and a half million dollars to wrap 61 cars and engines but the new look will also bring in new revenue. "We found a wrap that's specifically designed to be able to take on advertisement on top of the wrap. We can monetize. We got a moving bill board," he said.
We took a ride with Dech. He tells us as ridership is up 25 percent from last year, to more than 13-thousand passengers a day, there's a big push to spruce up cars.
"It always feels a little bit dingy," Dech explained while on board the train. "That's what we want to get past. We want people to get on here and have a feeling of things look clean," he said.
About 250 windows have been swapped out, bathroom are being renovated, some flooring is being replaced and crews are deep cleaning.
"We need to keep improving our service, we've got to keep making the trains cleaner, you can see we got work to do,' he commented.
As tri rail hopes to extend service to downtown Miami by fall, it received a 71 million dollar federal grant to help pay for new equipment. "We're looking to spend up to 180 million dollars on new equipment so that's some new locomotives, some new coach cars, some new cab cars. That represents about 25-30 percent of our entire fleet," Dech said.
You can expect to see the first freshly wrapped trains in the next few months. The goal is to wrap up to 3 cars a month. As for when first new engines and passengers cars, it may take several years before we see them on the tracks.
