David Dech, the top Tri-Rail executive who led a variety of initiatives to upgrade South Florida’s aging publicly funded commuter railroad, has resigned to head a Midwest rail line.
Dech, who is executive director of Tri-Rail’s governing body, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, stunned his staff with a phone call from Tallahassee announcing his resignation Monday, spokesman Victor Garcia said Wednesday.
His new position: president and general manager of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District. His hiring becomes effective March 16, according to The Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana, which first reported the leadership change.
Garcia said the staff expected an update on Tri-Rail’s efforts to close a funding gap in Tallahassee after the Florida Department of Transportation slashed its annual subsidy last year. But they received news of Dech’s career change instead.
“He did say he feels confident this is going to be worked out,” Garcia said.
Commuters board and exit a Tri-Rail train in Hollywood. The rail line’s executive director, David Dech, has resigned to head a railroad in Indiana starting in mid-March. No replacement has been named. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The 80-mile commuter rail service was designed to connect Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, a metropolitan area of more than 6 million people, and operates on an annual budget of $150 million. But the state has cut its planned allotment for the commuter rail, and the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority is warning the three South Florida counties that the shortfall could mean the rail line will shut down by the end of 2026.
There was no public indication Dech had been interviewing for another job.
As recently as last week, Dech, who was not immediately available for comment late Wednesday, was focused on telling Tri-Rail’s story to Florida lawmakers and making the railroad’s case for additional funds.
At a Friday SFRTA board meeting, he said he was encouraged with how state lawmakers had received Tri-Rail’s pitch.
Veteran railroader
Dech joined Tri-Rail in 2022 from a transit agency in Austin, Texas. He is an Ohio native with 29 years of railroad experience, including time as an engineer with the giant CSX freight line. He’ll be the Indiana line’s third president.
Dech has forecast that Tri-Rail, which has served Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties since 1989, will run out of funds by June 2027 without additional contributions from the three counties the railroad serves and/or the FDOT.
Among other things, he is credited with completing a stalled project to link Tri-Rail with Brightline’s MiamiCentral station in downtown Miami. He also worked to make Tri-Rail safer, installing more protection measures at grade crossings, eliminating homeless camps along the Tri-Rail corridor west of Interstate 95, and setting the stage to acquire locomotives and passenger coaches.
Last year, Tri-Rail set ridership records, carrying more than 4.5 million passengers in 2025.
Garcia said he had no immediate information on how the SFRTA board will proceed to replace Dech, but it is likely a national search will be conducted for a new top executive.
