Trinity Railway Express - Best Trans. Proj. of 2001

[CTroyMathis]

Concerning the feats of engineering and construction of the final portion of the TRE line in Fort Worth:


Award of Excellence - Transportation Project
Trinity Railway Express Commuter Rail Facilities

Completing the commuter rail line between downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas encompassed a little more than simply installing new track. In addition to three miles of new track, the project included a 420-foot bridge over IH-30 and Lancaster Avenue, a tunnel through the historic Hunt-Hawes Grocery/Alarm Supply building and two stations: the 9th Street Station near the business district core and a station at the historic Texas & Pacific Railway Union Terminal.

The 9th Street Station features a bus transfer center and an intermodal transportation center, uniting Greyhound and Amtrak with the Trinity Railway Express. The platform includes tracks, water lines and storage and will serve Amtrak's Heartland Flyer and Texas Eagle. Meanwhile, the existing station platform at the Union Terminal station was renovated and will serve as the interim terminal for the transit line.

Perhaps the most unique feature of the project is the tunnel which passes through the historic brick building which once housed a grocery and alarm supply business. Working with the Texas Historical Preservation Office, the 5-story building's façade and shell were kept intact as the tunnel was constructed. Structural integrity of the century-old structure was maintained by providing a vibration slab and mat system integrated into the track roadbed. New structural support systems for the upper floors, roof and walls were also provided.

The project included a pair of railroad bridges. The first carries Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks because the new commuter rail goes under the existing BNSF line. And the second crosses the former IH-30 corridor (the future Lancaster Street) and was architecturally enhanced to resemble the look of older surrounding buildings.

[Tnekster]

Transit agencies tapping into natural gas



DART, FW counterpart aim to cash in on recent boom using Trinity line


07:38 AM CST on Friday, December 2, 2005



By JOE SIMNACHER / The Dallas Morning News

DART and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority may soon learn the value of the mineral rights under their 33.4-mile Trinity Railway Express corridor.

<!-- image1 starts here -->

http://www.dallasnews.com/bi/images/clikEnlarge.gif http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/v3/12-02-2005.NMC_02DartGas.GB01OO7A5.1.jpg RON BASELICE/DMN
The Rev. Michael Tullos and Normandale Baptist Church discovered the potential riches of mineral rights about two years ago. 'We were blessed,' the senior pastor said.

<!-- image1 ends here -->At 5 p.m. today, DART will take the first step to cashing in on the natural gas bonanza rocking North Texas.

Oil companies are drilling in and near cities across North Texas, including Fort Worth, Haslett, Saginaw, Denton, Everman and Benbrook.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit is the latest of a host of North Texas entities – including cities, school districts, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Texas Christian University (which has mineral rights near Burleson) – to explore its natural gas prospects.

The Rev. Mike Tullos, senior pastor of Normandale Baptist Church in White Settlement, knows that the royalties from natural gas production on church property could be divine.

The Normandale Baptist Church congregation discovered the potential riches of mineral rights about two years ago, shortly after it purchased about 50 acres roughly one mile away from its present location.

"We were blessed," Dr. Tullos said recently.

<!-- Refer begins here -->www.dart.org/minerals ("]More information[/url] For additional details regarding the Trinity Railway Express mineral rights, go to [url="http://www.dart.org/minerals).



<!-- Refer ends here -->The church intended to gradually build larger facilities at the new location over four or five years. But along came an unexpected offering: Natural gas producers were interested in drilling on the new church site in Fort Worth.

"Once we realized that we're going to get the proceeds from a gas well, we've stepped up our time frame," Dr. Tullos said.

Any future gas production would be hidden behind a hill on the new site, he said.

While Normandale Baptist's leaseholder, which will begin drilling in January, cautions against predicting future royalty income, it could be significant.

"The real answer is we won't know until it comes in," Dr. Tullos said. "They tell me the average of these gas wells is producing anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000 a month for royalty purposes, but there are no promises.

"They are telling me the gas is there; it's just a matter of getting the well drilled and getting it going."

DART officials aren't counting their money yet but say that any additional income from natural gas exploration leases or possible production would be welcome. Costs are increasing at the same time that sales tax revenues are growing more slowly than expected, challenging the transit agency's budget.

"It's kind of found money," said Kathy Waters, DART's vice president of commuter rail. "Why wouldn't you make that effort to see what you get?"

The commuter line operated by DART and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, which links Dallas and Fort Worth, crosses the Barnett Shale, a geological formation that some say may be the nation's largest natural gas field.

The formation also runs under the new site of Normandale Baptist Church.

Dr. Tullos and his flock have been waiting two years for the drillers to start working. "There's just so much of this drilling going on right now that it took them that long to get to us," he said. "It is busy out here with drilling."

Texas Railroad Commission chairwoman Elizabeth Ames Jones said the North Texas drilling boom is reminiscent of unconventional exploration in East Texas during the 1930s, when oil derricks started appearing in downtown areas and public properties.

"The Barnett Shale is one of the largest new [gas] fields in the country," Ms. Jones said. "When you've got energy prices driving exploration and production of the hydrocarbons, I think you will be seeing some of these unconventional sites."

The bids received by today's deadline will be evaluated by DART consultants. The bids will be opened at noon Wednesday at the Trinity Railway Express maintenance facility in Irving.

DART has received unsolicited proposals from groups wanting to lease sections of the corridor for natural gas exploration, but state law requires the public entity to first open the process to bidding.

"Of course, we might decide we don't like any of the deals," Ms. Waters said. "We don't have something that we have to achieve or some dollar limit we are targeting. It's another opportunity."

A lease will be negotiated within 45 days for each bidder selected.

Kent A. Bowker, a geologist based in The Woodlands, Texas, who is a consultant to many players in the Barnett Shale, said the odds of finding natural gas are best on the western portions of the Trinity Railway Express corridor.

The prolific natural gas formation is most likely anywhere west of a line from downtown Denton to downtown Dallas, he said.

Rights to the rail corridor are important to energy speculators, who want to establish a more orderly development of the gas reservoir – especially if natural gas is found on both sides of the tracks.

"If there's a 100-foot-wide swath of land that they don't have a lease on, they can't drill under it – it's against the law," Mr. Bowker said. "There will be less waste and more efficient drilling, a more efficient well pattern."

DART and its Fort Worth counterpart would split at least one-quarter the value of all energy produced from the leases with the producers.

The entry of the Trinity Railway Express into the exploration fray brings the Railroad Commission, which monitors and regulates the state's energy production, back in line with its name, said the chairwoman, Ms. Jones. The commission's name is an anachronism from its origins regulating transportation. Over the years, the agency was given added responsibilities and evolved to have jurisdiction over all oil and gas production in Texas.

"This is sort of funny – now we really have something to do with the railroad," she said.

E-mail jsimnacher@dallasnews.com (jsimnacher@dallasnews.com)

[St-T]

Amen

[RobertB]

"You'd never drill for oil on a city street" -- Meatloaf

I still can't believe a Dallas boy would sing a line like that. Heck, where I'm from (near Tulsa), we have the Main Street Oil Well (image source (http://girlatbama.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_girlatbama_archive.html)).

[Boredkid]

only in OK

[CTroyMathis]

Is the oil derrick in front of the State Capitol in OKC still there?

Anyhow, this Barnett Shale business is very interesting to say the least.

[msutton]

anybody catch this on the TRE website?

"Expansion plans continue for HOV and Trinity Railway Express (TRE)
Responding to the 17% ridership gain enjoyed by the TRE during the first three months of FY 2006, track upgrades are in the works. During 2006, the TRE will continue its long-range program of adding double-track capacity at key parts of the 34-mile commuter rail line connecting Dallas and Fort Worth."

Nothing new or terribly surprising, but glad to see that they recognize the need to get this line double tracked and moving faster. Would love to hear about extending the line to waco or anywhere... even if it were just one trip per day.

[incrediculous]

Does it move so slow because of old track? Or is it that the double-tracked portions are limited, so they have to slow trains down to time it properly?

[FoUTASportscaster]

A little of both, plus freight also uses the line.

[RobertB]

anybody catch this on the TRE website?

"Expansion plans continue for HOV and Trinity Railway Express (TRE)
Responding to the 17% ridership gain enjoyed by the TRE during the first three months of FY 2006, track upgrades are in the works. During 2006, the TRE will continue its long-range program of adding double-track capacity at key parts of the 34-mile commuter rail line connecting Dallas and Fort Worth."

Nothing new or terribly surprising, but glad to see that they recognize the need to get this line double tracked and moving faster. Would love to hear about extending the line to waco or anywhere... even if it were just one trip per day.
Technically, there's already service between FW and Waco... via Amtrak, although the train doesn't actually enter Waco itself. You jump off at McGregor (http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Station/Station_Page&c=am2Station&cid=1080080552396&ssid=129) and hitch a ride along US 84. It might be closer to walk back up the tracks to Crawford and ask Cindy Sheehan for a ride to town. :)

There must be some sort of freight congestion around Waco. Also in the mix is track ownership -- the line through Waco is probably owned by a different company than the one 10 miles to the west. If it weren't for those issues, the TRE could run virtually anywhere -- remember, it went to Houston to pick up Hurricane Rita evacuees (and was originally set to go all the way to Galveston).

[dfwcre8tive]

Can you top Intermodal Transportation Center?
By Gordon Dickson
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

The crown jewel of Tarrant County's five train stations is the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center. Many readers may wonder how such a nice building got stuck with such a laborious name -- and perhaps they can come up with something catchier just in time for the ITC's fifth anniversary later this year.

The building on the eastern edge of downtown is owned by the Fort Worth Transportation Authority. The story of how the ITC, which opened Dec. 3, 2001, got its name really goes back to about 1979, according to John Bartosiewicz, who was the T's president for a quarter-century until leaving in 2003.

It began with a plan by developers to convert a different building, the old T&P depot a half-mile to the south, into modern office space. Developers wanted federal funding to help pay for the project, Bartosiewicz said, but to qualify for it they had to demonstrate that the project would create a connection point for trains, buses, cars and any other transportation modes.

The name stayed even after the project location changed. In the 1990s, politicians and downtown leaders successfully pushed for the ITC to be built not at the T&P depot but at Ninth and Jones streets -- closer to major downtown employers, Sundance Square and other attractions.

Whenever the idea was discussed publicly, it was referred to as an "intermodal transportation center" -- and those three words always appeared on grant applications. "It's a functional name," said Bartosiewicz, who could recall no other names being considered. "It's a definition of what happens there."

The historical T&P building was eventually renovated for events such as weddings and become a commuter rail stop with bus connections. But the ITC has truly become the hub of downtown movement, with the constant in and out of Trinity Railway Express commuter trains, Amtrak long-distance trains, T buses and rental cars.

Greyhound Lines plans to move its Fort Worth bus terminal to the ITC by summer.

If you can think of a better name for the ITC, please send an e-mail. Brake Time will pass along suggestions to the T.

Anyone in favor of Sundance Station? All ideas are welcome, as long as the word intermodal is nowhere to be found.

Gordon Dickson, (817) 685-3816 gdickson@star-telegram.com

[saxman66]

Technically, there's already service between FW and Waco... via Amtrak, although the train doesn't actually enter Waco itself. You jump off at McGregor (http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Station/Station_Page&c=am2Station&cid=1080080552396&ssid=129) and hitch a ride along US 84. It might be closer to walk back up the tracks to Crawford and ask Cindy Sheehan for a ride to town. :)

There must be some sort of freight congestion around Waco. Also in the mix is track ownership -- the line through Waco is probably owned by a different company than the one 10 miles to the west. If it weren't for those issues, the TRE could run virtually anywhere -- remember, it went to Houston to pick up Hurricane Rita evacuees (and was originally set to go all the way to Galveston).

Yup, the line through Waco are UP tracks. Amtrak uses BNSF tracks which are the ones going through Cleburne, Crawford, etc. I think going through Waco would increase ridership, but the BNSF is certainly more scenic, such as crossing Lake Whitney. Once reaching Temple, Amtrak switches back to UP rails.

[RobertB]

Perhaps the resident rail buffs can clue me in on how the TRE managed to get rid of the 10-minute wait at Medical/Market Center, as noted in this DART Rider Alert:

Route(s) Affected: Trinity Railway Express
Effective Date: 8/14/2006
TRE Announces Several Evening Service Adjustments
http://www.dart.org/fullRArss.asp?id=512

Trinity Railway Express (TRE) passengers are advised of two minor schedule adjustments and a platform change at Dallas Union Station.

• Train #2936, which departs Fort Worth T&P Station at 4:38 p.m., will continue to make all scheduled stops until arrival at South Irving Station. There the schedule will change as follows:
STATION Prior to 8/14 Effective 8/14
South Irving 5:25 p.m. 5:24 p.m.
Medical/Market Center 5:36 5:34
Union Station 5:55 5:42


PLEASE NOTE: Also effective on August 14, this train will no longer have a 10-minute wait time between Medical/Market Center and Dallas Union Station. Because of this, Train #2936 & Train #2937 (which leaves Union Station at 6:17 p.m.), will use Track #4. All other TRE trains will continue to use Track #3 for arrivals and departures.

• Train #2148, which departs Fort Worth T&P Station at 10:31 p.m., will continue to make all scheduled stops until arrival at Hurst/Bell Station. There the schedule will change as follows:
STATION Prior to 8/14 Effective 8/14
Hurst/Bell 11:00 p.m. 10:57 p.m.
CentrePort/DFW Airport 11:09 11:06


Thanks for riding the TRE.
This looks like good news -- anything that enhances the percieved speed of the train is good news. For those stuck on a non-moving train, it's small consolation that the delay is built into the schedule.

Also, it's not very clear, but I think the reference to Track #3 and Track #4 means that the TRE train will be on a different track at Union Station. Isn't that the one where the Amtrak train usually pulls up? That would be kind of cool, actually, though hopefully not too confusing.

[incrediculous]

That's nice. That wait is very annoying.