DALLAS – Funding for a commuter rail line between downtown Fort Worth with Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has been completed with a $499.4 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration.
Officials from the FTA and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority signed the agreement on Thursday for the grant, which will provide half of the cost of building the $1.03 billion TEX Rail system.
The new agreement accounts for a large portion of the $2.1 billion of the Capital Investment Grants distributed nationwide each year by the FTA for streetcar, rail, and bus projects.
The rail route with nine stations will extend across northeast Tarrant County from downtown Fort Worth's historic Texas & Pacific Railroad station to DFW Airport's Terminal B.
The 27-mile line will connect in downtown Fort Worth with Amtrak and the Trinity Rail Express line between stations in Fort Worth and downtown Dallas operated by the FWTA, and at the airport with Dallas Area Rapid Transit's extensive light rail system.
The $499 million will be distributed over four years and is subject to Congressional approval during the annual appropriations process, said FTA acting administrator Carolyn Flowers.
The financial commitment signed on Thursday is as good as an ironclad contract, she said.
"In the history of these contracts, the federal government has not reneged," Flowers told the local officials at the signing ceremony.
TEX Rail will offer motorists a much-needed alternative to sitting in traffic as population increases in the area, Flowers said.
Regional cities that declined offers to be a part of the project will regret that decision in coming years, she said.
"Those who lacked the vision will want to know when they can get a station in the future," Flowers said. "We've seen it time and time again."
The route passes through the city of Colleyville, which is not participating in the project. City officials had a proposed station in Colleyville taken out of the initial plans for the rail line.
TEX Rail would have "negative impacts to property values, noise, safety, traffic, general character, and way of life in Colleyville," the city council said in a resolution adopted in May.
Local funding for the rail project includes $20 million of general obligation bonds approved by Tarrant County voters in 2006, $162.6 million of Fort Worth's sales tax revenue, $113.3 million from the city of Grapevine's 0.375% 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 the rail station at the airport's Terminal B.
The project had earlier received $37.5 million of federal funds.
The nine TEX Rail stations include four in Fort Worth, two in North Richland Hills, and one in the city of Grapevine.
Many of the people moving in to the fast-growing area are coming from areas with long-established commuter rail systems, said Oscar Trevino, mayor of North Richland Hills.
"Ten years ago, people said you'll never get Bubba out of his pickup," he said. "Well, the people coming here aren't coming from Monahans and Pecos, Texas. They know about rail. They want rail."
The city is planning transit-oriented developments around its two TEX Rail stations, Trevino said.
Grapevine will build a boutique hotel and observation tower at a new downtown rail depot.
