The Northeast Corridor commuter rail line has its state money back. The Florida Department of Transportation added $200 million for the 13.5-mile line to its five-year work program, restoring a pledge the state pulled in 2025. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava called it "a major step toward bringing commuter rail service to Miami-Dade residents."

Advocacy group Transit Alliance Miami posted Tuesday night that the line is "fully funded." On paper, the state money closes the gap in the construction budget. But trains still need a signed Brightline deal, a County Commission vote and a final federal grant.

Where the money comes from

The county's project fact sheet puts the cost at $927.2 million, counted in 2032 dollars. Here is how the plan breaks down:

  • Up to $389.5 million from the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts grant program, pledged in 2024
  • $129.8 million in other federal funds
  • $207.9 million from Miami-Dade, including the half-penny transit sales tax
  • $200 million from the state, now back in FDOT's plan

Before this week, the state's share stood at about $8 million, and the county marked the other $192 million "to be determined." An October county report tied that gap to Florida effectively ending its New Starts transit program in 2025.

The stations

Trains would run on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks that Brightline already uses. The county's route map shows five new stops: NE 27th Street in Wynwood, NE 39th Street in the Design District, NE 61st Street in Little Haiti, NE 125th Street in North Miami and NE 151st Street at FIU's Biscayne Bay Campus. Trains would also stop at MiamiCentral downtown and at Brightline's Aventura station.

The county plans trains every 30 minutes at weekday rush hours and hourly otherwise, from 5 a.m. to midnight. The FTA says the project includes 20 rail cars and an expanded FDOT rail yard in Hialeah. Downtown, MiamiCentral already links to Metrorail and Metromover; our Metromover guide covers those connections.

The holdup

Miami-Dade and Brightline have been negotiating a joint venture for the line, the Miami Herald reported. Levine Cava's office said in a statement that "the agreement as currently proposed does not meet that standard" of protecting taxpayers.

The county would also cover operating costs starting at about $37 million a year, plus a $15 million track-access fee to Brightline for the first 30 years, the Herald reported. A county consultant flagged risks from Brightline's restructuring, after some related companies filed for bankruptcy in September, and from a long dispute with the freight railroad that shares the tracks. Brightline said in a statement that the project is "at the finish line."

Levine Cava has not sent the deal to commissioners, with rising costs squeezing the transit budget and a possible property-tax cut from Amendment 3 on the ballot, the Herald reported. Her Oct. 21 statement says she will keep working with Brightline "toward an agreement that makes sense for our community and protects taxpayers."

What's next

The county's January 2026 schedule, in the same fact sheet, aims to send its full funding grant package to the FTA in August 2027. It then targets County Commission approval in November 2027 and a signed federal grant in December 2027, with trains running in 2032. Earlier this month, we covered the $7.6 billion funding gap across the county's planned rapid transit lines.