Tarrant County One Step Closer To TEX Rail
Tarrant County has broken ground on another way to get to DFW Airport. The 27-mile TEX Rail will use existing freight tracks from Downtown Fort Worth, head northeast to North Richland Hills and Grapevine, and then into the north entrance of the airport. The $1B rail will connect with Trinity Railway Express, Amtrak, and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority's (The T) Downtown bus transfer center at the Downtown Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center and T&P Station.
Developed by The T, the TEX Rail is projected to have more than 8,000 daily riders when service starts on nine rail stations in 2018 and 13,000 daily riders by 2035.
To ride the rail from end-to-end starting at the existing T&P Station in Downtown Fort Worth to Terminal B in DFW International Airport will take 55 minutes at speeds up to 59 mph. By 2035, the train is anticipated to run every 30 minutes during peak hours and every 60 minutes outside rush hours.
The rail is funded by both federal and local dollars. A half-cent sales tax is directed toward economic development; of that, 75% is allocated to the TEX Rail project as a part of a comprehensive sales tax approved by voters in 2006. The City of Grapevine hopes the rail will enhance the quality of Historic Downtown Grapevine and bring new retail dollars to the community.
