ARLINGTON — The Regional Transportation Council on Thursday approved a funding package that all but ensures the Fort Worth Transportation Authority will have modern, sleek rail cars for the proposed TEX Rail/Cotton Belt line, if the service opens as scheduled in 2016.
The package includes commitments from the RTC, the T and the Texas Department of Transportation to spend roughly a combined $100 million to buy about 20 rail cars, which would run in pairs on the proposed 37-mile commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth to DFW Airport."This one piece of paper represents a culmination of about three years of progress," said Fort Worth Councilman Jungus Jordan, who thanked the RTC, the T and Dallas Area Rapid Transit for working together on the project.In addition to building the Tarrant County commuter rail line, regional planners are interested in extending it another 25 miles east of DFW Airport to Plano or Wylie and possibly luring a rail car manufacturer to the area to provide the rolling stock and also bring hundreds of new jobs to the area.The region now has about $250 million in potential orders lined up for the prospective rail car manufacturer, said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. That figure includes the T's rail cars, as well as possibly streetcar orders.The manufacturer hasn't been publicly identified, but could be named in January or early February. That's when the transportation council is expected to finally receive a proposal from developers to build the Cotton Belt project, using not only tax dollars but also investment funds generated by an expected rush of development on land surrounding the train stations.Most of the council members have signed non-disclosure agreements promising not to talk about the arrangement until the proposal is formally submitted.Seeking federal grantsThe T is developing the portion of the project in Tarrant County, which is expected to cost $960 million, and is seeking a federal new-starts grant to cover about half that cost.Even though the federal government hasn't approved the Cotton Belt project, the rail cars had to be funded now to ensure they would arrive by 2016, Morris said. It takes several years to build a car once it's ordered.Transportation council members didn't ask about the possible risk of their funds if the rail project, for whatever reason, didn't receive federal funds -- a development that could seriously delay the project, or even derail it.But after the meeting, Morris said he was confident the risk was low."I'm not worried about it at all, for two or three reasons," he said. "I'm pretty sure that either through the public-private partnership or the new-starts application we're going to have this rail service move forward."Even if the rail project failed, the modern cars could be used on any of several other commuter rail projects planned in the region, Morris said."We've already had conversations with the Trinity Railway Express about potentially using these vehicles in off-peak periods," he said.Or, he said, under a worst-case scenario the council could sell the rail cars to another commuter rail project in the U.S.More state money?The RTC on Thursday committed to spending $57.5 million on the transit package. The money includes $25 million for the modern rail cars, which will be matched by $25 million from the state transportation department and $50 million from the T.The local council's commitment also includes $2.5 million to repay the T, which last year "loaned" the RTC money to pay for engineering work for improvements to the Tower 55 freight rail project near downtown Fort Worth, as well as $20 million toward development of a "positive train control" system of the Cotton Belt project as well as the Trinity Railway Express; and $7.5 million for other TRE improvements.The state transportation department also is considering contributing additional dollars to the project.Gordon Dickson, 817-390-7796Twitter: @gdickson
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