Federal Funding Assured for DFW Rail Link

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DALLAS – Work could begin in July on a $1 billion commuter rail line serving Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport with assurances of more than $500 million of federal funding, project sponsors said.

The 28-mile TEX Rail project between the airport and downtown Fort Worth would be operational in late 2018 if preliminary track work gets under way this summer as planned, said Paul Ballard, president of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, the lead agency building the line.

Local funding for the $1.03 billion project includes $20 million from general obligation bonds approved in 2006 by Tarrant County voters, $162.6 million of Fort Worth sales tax collections, $113.3 million from Grapevine's 0.375% city sales tax, $92.3 million in regional transportation funds, $46.3 million from the state, $25 million from the North Central Texas Council of Government, and $40 million from DFW Airport, which is building a rail station near Terminal B.

Federal funding will total $535.9 million, including $37.5 million that has been received and $150 million from the Transportation Department that has been appropriated but not yet delivered.

A full-funding agreement with the Federal Transit Administration for a $400 million New Starts grant that would cover the remaining project costs is expected this summer, Ballard said.

"The federal full-funding grant agreement is on target," Ballard said. "It's going to come. It's just that the federal government requires so much detail."

The Regional Transportation Council agreed in May to lend up to $80 million to the project from its toll road revenues to keep construction work going until the federal grant arrives.

The system will include nine stations in northeast Tarrant County. The project will require the replacement of the existing rails along the route.

The T, as the Fort Worth agency is known locally, has ordered diesel-powered rail cars from a Swiss manufacturer that will build them in Salt Lake City. The cars are to be delivered in early 2018 for testing before passenger service begins.

The route passes through the city of Colleyville, which had a proposed station removed from the project's master plan and is seeking to halt the project before track work gets under way.

The Colleyville city council asked RTC members last month to reconsider the $80 million loan agreement, or else put the rail project on the November ballot as a public referendum.

TEX Rail would have "negative impacts to property values, noise, safety, traffic, general character, and way of life in Colleyville," according to the resolution adopted by the council on May 17.

The rail project is too expensive and will not reduce the area's traffic congestions, said Colleyville councilman Chris Putnam.

"This isn't even a transportation project. It doesn't solve any traffic problems," Putnam said. "It's an economic development project."

Colleyville is not a member of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority and does not contribute any of its sales tax revenues to the project.

State Rep. Konni Burton, a Republican from Colleyville, said she would try to derail the project when the Legislature convenes in January, if the federal funding has not arrived by then.

"The two obvious problems with this are that our local officials are entering into a multi-year, billion-dollar project with the irrational and fiscally irresponsible federal government and that we are artificially creating supply for a commodity that has little demand," Burton said.

Sean Donohue, CEO of American Airlines, said the new rail link is vital to the airport, which is wrapping up a $2.7 billion makeover of three terminals and is considering $1 billion of upgrades to a fourth.

"We can't wait for the T," Donohue said. "To have rail connection to Fort Worth is absolutely critical."

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