TEXRail gets money to expand its commuter trains into the Fort Worth medical district
TEXRail supporters who want the commuter trains to run to Fort Worth’s medical district are now closer to their goal.
Officials from the city’s transit agency, Trinity Metro, confirmed Friday that they have received permission from the federal government to use $38.9 million in grant funding left over from the rail line’s original construction in 2018 on a two-mile extension to the city’s hospitals and Near Southside neighborhood.
The rail line opened a little more than a year ago, and runs a 27-mile route daily from downtown Fort Worth to North Richland Hills, Grapevine and DFW Airport. But the trains only run as far south at T&P Station, just south of the city’s downtown area, which means it doesn’t yet serve the medical district or the city’s southern and western neighborhoods.
Trinity Metro has proposed extending the TEXRail line another 2.1 miles to the south, to a proposed station at the Mistletoe Boulevard railroad crossing near Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center.
When TEXRail was being conceptualized more than a decade ago, officials believed that serving the medical district — where more than 40,000 people work daily, and where the surrounding Near Southside neighborhood is enjoying a residential, retail and restaurant renaissance — would be one of the busiest and most popular stations.
But that medical district station was eventually left off TEXRail’s original construction in a cost-cutting move, and now transit officials want it back.
“We believe this is really going to be the hotspot for TEXRail in Fort Worth,” Bob Baulsir, president of Trinity Metro, the transit agency, said after learning of the federal funding. He added that the region’s other commuter rail service, Trinity Railway Express, also would use Fort Worth’s medical district station.
Baulsir cautioned that it may be a couple of years before Trinity Metro is able to complete the 2.1-mile extension. Trinity Metro must first negotiate with Union Pacific Railroad and Fort Worth & Western Railway for the rights to run trains in the area, and also must refresh its TEXRail environmental study to reflect the proposed station.
Also, the $38.9 million in federal funds covers a little less than half the money that Trinity Metro believes will be needed to extend to the medical district and build a station platform there. However, Baulsir said he expects that additional funding to complete the extension should be available from Trinity Metro and its local partners.
For example, Baylor Scott & White has previously offered informal support for allowing Trinity Metro to use some of its undeveloped land for a TEXRail station — but now that pledge must be formalized.
The $38.9 million in federal funds became available after Trinity Metro completed the initial TEXRail construction, which cost less than $1 billion, under budget. About a year ago, Trinity Metro thought it would have to send the unused money back to Washington, but asked permission to use the funds on an extension.
Baulsir said he received a phone call Friday morning from Jane Williams, who heads the Federal Transit Administration, letting him know about the funding decision in TEXRail’s favor.
U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, also announced Friday that the money would be made available for TEXRail.
“I strongly supported Trinity Metro’s application to use $38.9 million of leftover grant funds to extend TEXRail by 2.1 miles into the Fort Worth Medical District, even personally urging Acting FTA Administrator Jane Williams to approve the request,” Granger, the ranking Republican on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. “TEXRail’s expansion into the Fort Worth Medical District will improve quality of life and access to health care services, an especially significant win for our District’s lower-income residents.”
