Texas Transit Association

Planners are looking at regional passenger rail in the greater Dallas and Fort Worth area at a level ten times that of the successful commuter rail service of The T in Fort Worth and DART in Dallas, the Trinity Express. Michael Morris, Transportation Director at the lead planning agency, the North Central Texas Council of Goverments, said, “Wouldn’t it be a shame if we waited until 3 million people had moved into the region, and then we built the rails?” And he is right! It would not just be a shame, but short-sightedness that commuters, both in cars and out, would have to live with for the next score of years. Read the news article.

*Planners of rail system asking cities to climb aboard*
By Gordon Dickson
Star-Telegram Staff Writer, Mon, Jun. 16, 2003

Imagine buying one ticket and taking a train wherever you need to go in the Metroplex — to work, school, shopping or just an evening out.

North Texas needs such a system, and needs to start building it now, before an additional 3 million residents move here, supporters of a commuter rail system say.

But persuading dozens of cities to work together to create the system — and pay for it — will be difficult. Many residents of Tarrant and Denton counties loudly oppose transit plans, arguing that rail lines would be a waste of money in a region dominated by automobiles. The money, they say, would be better spent on highways.

This summer, people on both sides of the rail debate will get a chance to sound off.

“The only way it’s going to be a success is if it’s a fluid system,” said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. “We want to move out, develop consensus and find out exactly what we’re doing in each corridor.”

Designers are drawing up plans for a rail system 10 times the size of the Trinity Railway Express, which connects downtown Fort Worth to Dallas and is the area’s only commuter rail line.

The council of governments is picking up the tab for plans to connect communities, many of which have little public transit. They include Arlington, Cleburne, Colleyville, Denton County, Grapevine and North Richland Hills.

Officials there are being asked to take an active role in creating a comprehensive rail system.

“Cities that begin to think that way will be part of the rail system that emerges. Cities that don’t think that way might be left out,” said Wes Jurey, president of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. Arlington leaders plan to invite residents to a transportation forum tentatively set for Aug. 11, he said.

The sales pitch will be difficult in cities where officials have gone on record opposing rail service, organizers say. Residents will be asked to look beyond their municipal borders and create a system for the good of the region.

The first step will be explaining that the rail system isn’t just for current residents but also for the more than 3 million newcomers expected in the area by 2025, Morris said.

Cities are being encouraged to insist that developers build communities around the rail lines so that residents can live, work and shop within walking distance.

“Wouldn’t it be a shame if we waited until 3 million people had moved into the region, and then we built the rails?” Morris said. “Instead, we should be able to build the rails first and have the people locate where the rail is.”

The Trinity Railway Express serves about 8,000 riders per day. That’s equal to adding one freeway lane in each direction between Dallas and Fort Worth, Morris said.

Early predictions estimate that a regional rail system could serve up to 58,000 riders per day.

The cost is not yet known, but developing commuter rail on existing lines generally runs $10 million to $16 million per mile, according to estimates from the council of governments. Starting a rail line from scratch can cost upward of $40 million per mile.

Because North Texas has historical ties to the railroad industry, most of the right of way needed to operate a passenger train system is in place, greatly reducing startup costs, Morris said.

“We are taking advantage of an 1880s investment in freight railroads,” he said.

For a rail system to succeed, proponents say, passengers must be able to go anywhere in the Metroplex with a single ticket. Passengers also should be able to reach their destinations without having to repeatedly change trains.

Working out those details will require tremendous cooperation among cities. The Metroplex has three transit authorities that collect sales taxes — the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, the Denton County Transportation Authority and Dallas Area Rapid Transit. Many cities along the planned rail routes don’t belong to an authority, and there must be a way for them to pay into the system.

Leaders of some cities say they aren’t interested in raising sales taxes but would be open to other sources of funding.

“It needs to be a tax in some relation to how your city uses the system,” Grapevine Mayor William D. Tate said. “DART and the T are almost obsolete in their funding. We’ve been looking for a solution that takes care of the needs of a majority of our residents.”

The project’s goal is to get all the cities to agree on a plan in the next 18 months. Then the plan could be presented to the Legislature for approval in 2005.

Some of the trains could be running by 2008-11, while others probably wouldn’t be operating until much later.

Rail lines most likely to be built first include an extension of the Trinity Railway Express into southwest Fort Worth and the Cotton Belt line connecting downtown Fort Worth to the north end of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

Bedford resident Jim Lieber, who uses Metroplex freeways daily to make sales calls for his technical staffing business, believes that a majority of voters in the Metroplex support regional rail and will hold elected officials accountable for coming up with a successful regional rail system.

“The answer is traffic, traffic, traffic,” Lieber said. “We have to do something because it is becoming like Los Angeles. People are starting to get angry. If they [politicians] sit quietly … it will catch up to them.”

How to get involved

• Visit the North Central Texas Council of Governments online (www.dfwinfo.com/trans) and read about the regional rail corridor plan.

• Find out when your city plans to hold public hearings on regional rail. Many cities will begin holding those hearings this summer.

• Find out who is being appointed as your city’s representative to the regional rail corridor plan. In most cases, the city council or city manager designates a person.

• For more information, call the council of governments at (817) 640-3300.