The Fort Worth Transportation Authority, or The T, has received federal approval to advance TEX Rail into engineering, the phase that immediately precedes construction.
The Federal Transit Administration’s approval also authorizes The T to order production of rail vehicles for the commuter rail service. TEX Rail is expected to welcome passengers in 2018.
TEX Rail will run on a 27-mile corridor and serve 10 stations from downtown Fort Worth, northeast across Tarrant County to Grapevine and into Terminal B at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Daily ridership is expected to exceed 10,000 in its first year of service.
“In addition to our appreciation for the Fort Worth FTA Region VI guidance and support through TEX Rail’s pre-construction phase, I also want to thank The T’s TEX Rail team, our TEX Rail partners, other stakeholders and the TEX Rail design team,” said Scott Mahaffey, chairman of The T Board of Directors.
“It was all of these entities working together that resulted in TEX Rail accomplishing this timely goal,” Mahaffey said.