Homestead Subdivision


The Homestead Subdivision is a CSX railroad line in South Florida. Running from a junction with the South Florida Rail Corridor in Hialeah near Miami International Airport south to Homestead, the line is the southernmost trackage in CSX's system.
The line begins just east of Miami International Airport where it branches off the state-owned South Florida Rail Corridor. The line heads southwest around the airport's Runway 9/27 to Oleander Junction, where the Lehigh Spur to Doral and Sweetwater branches off to the west. The Florida East Coast Railway's Little River Branch also connects to the Homestead Subdivision at Oleander Junction.
From Oleander Junction, the line heads south and southwest into southern Miami-Dade County, passing through Little Havana and Kendall. The line ends just south of a wye and the abandoned Homestead Seaboard Air Line Railway Station.
The line's milepost numbers continue from the South Florida Rail Corridor, though the numbers are subtracted from 1000 for simplicity.
The southern half of the line only sees sporadic freight service. There have been proposals in the past to extend Tri-Rail commuter service down the line to Homestead but the idea has never made it past the proposal stage. As of March 2019, the southernmost 12 miles of the line are classified as out of service.

History

The Homestead Subdivision was originally built in 1927 as the southern extension of the Seaboard-All Florida Railway, a subsidiary of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. It was built parallel the now-abandoned southern segment of the Florida East Coast Railway that led up to the Overseas Railroad to Key West. At the north end, some of the original track was realigned in 1951 to accommodate the expansion of Miami International Airport.