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Weekend Travelers First To Use MIA Mover

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Getting from Miami International Airport to the rental car center and other ground transportation is a lot easier for travelers this weekend. All they have to do is take the train, known as the MIA mover, a quarter-billion dollar component in creating a transportation linking air travel and ground travel.

The train stretches for a little more than a mile and reaches top speeds of about 40 miles per hour, and links the terminal to the Miami Intermodal Center, a bureaucratic name for a giant transportation hub that services car rental at present, but will eventually link travelers to MetroRail, Tri-Rail, intercity bus service, Amtrak, and private transportation services.

The rental car center has been open for about a year. The county is working on extending MetroRail to the site by next April, and the entire 27 acre project is set to be complete by 2013.

Airport officials said the MIA Mover can handle up to 3 thousand passengers an hour, replacing what had been a rental-car shuttle bus operation with 14 hundred trips a day through the congested airport.

Now, instead of waiting for a rental car bus to arrive, travelers take an elevator to the Airport's internal train service, which connects to the MIA Mover.

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