Trinity Railway Express
The Trinity Railway Express (or TRE) is a commuter rail line in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It was established by an interlocal agreement between Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (Trinity Metro). Each transit authority owns a 50% stake in the joint rail project and contractor Herzog Transit Services operates the line. The TRE began operating in December 1996.[3][4]
As of the fourth quarter of 2014, the TRE has an average weekday ridership of 8,200 passengers per day and is the fifteenth most-ridden commuter rail system in the United States.[1] In 2014, the TRE carried 2,293,500 passengers.[1]
Before 2006, the TRE was typically shown as a green line on DART maps and therefore was sometimes referred to as the "Green Line," but this was not an official designation. In 2006, DART chose green as the color for its new light rail route, the Green Line. Since 2006, the TRE has been shown as a dark blue line on DART maps.
History
Named after the Trinity River, which flows between Fort Worth and Dallas, the TRE was launched on December 30, 1996,[3] shortly after the inaugural service of Dallas' DART Light Rail system, operating from Union Station to the South Irving Station in Irving.[5] It runs along a former Rock Island line that the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth purchased in 1983 for $34 million.[6]
Service initially operated only in weekday rush hours, but midday and evening service was added in December 1997,[6] and Saturday service was added in December 1998.[6][7]
On September 18, 2000, the line was extended to the Richland Hills Station[6] and, for the first time, there was rail service available between downtown Dallas and DFW Airport. On November 13, 2000, the West Irving Station also opened. On December 3, 2001, the TRE was extended to its current terminus at the T&P Station in downtown Fort Worth.[6]
Route
The eastern terminus of the TRE line is Dallas Union Station on the west side of downtown Dallas. The line runs northwest, past the American Airlines Center and Southwestern Medical Center, through Irving, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Hurst, and Richland Hills before ending with two stops in downtown Fort Worth (the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center at 9th and Jones Streets and the T&P Station on Throckmorton Street). There are a total of ten regular station stops, including a stop at Victory Station (which until the opening of DART's Green line in September 2009, was used only for special events). Not all trains are through trains – a number of trains either terminate or originate at the CentrePort/DFW Airport Station.
Fleet
| Class | Image | Type(s) | Top speed | Number | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | |||||
| EMD F59PH |  |
Diesel Locomotive | 110 | 177 | 7 | 1988–1994 |
| EMD F59PHI |  |
Diesel Locomotive | 110 | 177 | 2 | 2001 |
| Bombardier BiLevel Coach |  |
Passenger coach Control Car |
95 | 150 | 25 | 1976–77 2003 2007 2009 |
| Former fleet | ||||||
| Budd Rail Diesel Car, type RDC-1[8] |
 |
Diesel Multiple Unit | 85[8] | 137 | 13 | 1954–58 |
Diesel locomotives
TRE has a fleet of 9 locomotives.
- EMD F59PH IV (1994)
There are seven EMD F59PH IV locomotives that were acquired from GO Transit. The original numbers for these were #525, #527-528 and #565-568. These were overhauled in late 2010 by the Norfolk Southern Railroad and RELCO Locomotive to meet EPA standards and renumbered 120-126.[9]
- EMD F59PHI (2001)
There are two EMD F59PHI locomotives that were purchased from EMD. The numbers for these are #569 and #570.
Coaches
- Bombardier Transportation and Hawker-Siddeley bi-level cabs and coaches
Former fleet
Until 2011, the TRE fleet included diesel multiple units, in the form of 13 Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) built in the 1950s. They were purchased used from Via Rail Canada in 1993 and remanufactured by GEC Alsthom in Montreal. They entered service in March and April 1997[10] – after trains leased from Amtrak and the Connecticut Department of Transportation temporarily provided initial TRE service when the RDCs were not ready in time for the inauguration of TRE service[5] in December 1996 – and thereafter provided all service for the line's first two to three years. They remained in service for about 14 years, the last cars being taken off of TRE service in March 2011.[11] In 2010–2011, 11 of the 13 cars were leased to Denton County Transportation Authority for operation on the A-train. They were returned in 2012 and placed in storage at the TRE shops in Irving, Texas. In spring 2017, 12 RDCs were sold via auction to AllEarth Rail,[11][12] a Vermont-based private company that intends to use them to operate commuter rail service connecting the Vermont cities of Montpelier and Burlington.[12] AllEarth subsequently resold two of the TRE cars to TriMet, of Portland, Oregon,[13] before they had left Texas, and those two Dallas RDCs (Nos. 2007 and 2011) were moved in August 2017 from Texas to Oregon, where TriMet planned to use them on its WES Commuter Rail service.[14] The other 10 RDCs were moved to Vermont the same month.[13]
Train consist
Information from the Trinity Railway Express Train Facts page
Each train includes at least one locomotive unit and one bi-level cab car. Typically, one or two additional coach cars are included between the locomotive and cab car. Each cab car (and thus each train) has a restroom and passengers may move between cars during the trip. The trip from Union Station to T&P Station takes just over an hour, with scheduled trip times ranging from one hour, three minutes to one hour, eleven minutes. Track improvements are currently underway which should offer an improvement in travel times by double-tracking certain stations and sections of the route. Currently, portions of the route are single-track, requiring eastbound and westbound trains to meet only at certain points and requiring some eastbound trains to hold for 5–7 minutes to wait for a westbound train to get to the passing area.
Stations
| Station | Location | Municipality | Points of interest and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
T&P Station   |
221 W. Lancaster Avenue | Fort Worth | Connections:
|
| Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center |
1001 Jones Street | Points of interest: Fort Worth Convention Center, Fort Worth Water Gardens, Sundance Square | |
| Richland Hills |
7225 Burns Street | North Richland Hills | |
| Bell |
3232 Bell Helicopter Boulevard | Hurst | Points of interest: Bell Helicopter main plant
|
| CentrePort/DFW Airport |
14470 Statler Boulevard | Fort Worth | Connections:
|
| West Irving |
4200 Jackson Street | Irving |
Connections: |
| Downtown Irving/Heritage Crossing |
201 Rock Island Road | Connections:
| |
| Medical/Market Center |
Medical District Drive & Southwestern Medical Avenue | Dallas | Points of interest: Parkland Memorial Hospital, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Children's Medical Center Dallas, and Dallas Market Center |
| Victory |
2525 Victory Avenue | Points of interest: American Airlines Center, Katy Trail, and Victory Park | |
| Union Station |
400 S. Houston Street | Points of interest: Reunion Tower and Dealey Plaza |
Gallery
TRE train at South Irving Station.
The TRE stops at the historic T&P Station in Fort Worth.
Trinity Railway Express trainset pulling into the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center.
References
- 1 2 3 APTA (March 3, 2015). "Transit Ridership Report Fourth Quarter and End-of-Year 2014" (pdf). American Public Transportation Association. Retrieved January 1, 2016 – via http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Pages/ridershipreport.aspx.
- ↑ http://www.dart.org/aptaraildallas/TREFAQ.pdf
- 1 2 Dickson, Gordon (November 26, 2016). "20 years later, there's plenty to love (and not) about the TRE". Star-Telegram. Fort Worth, Texas. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
- ↑ Mueller, Sarah (February 16, 2010). "Dallas woman killed Monday by TRE train identified". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
- 1 2 Cumbie, Jim (Spring 1997). "Dallas—Phase 2". The New Electric Railway Journal. pp. 12–13.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Van Hattem, Matt (July 2, 2006). "Trinity Railway Express: The commuter railroad linking Dallas and Fort Worth". Trains. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
- ↑ Wolinsky, Julian (March 1999). "Commuter/Transit [regular monthly news section]". RailNews. p. 30.
- 1 2 Wallace, Rich (March 1997). "Dallas Welcomes Trinity Commuter Railway". RailNews. p. 13. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
- ↑ "Trinity Railway Express receives upgraded F59PHs". Trains Magazine. December 13, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
- ↑ Wallace, Rich (May 1997). "Questions and Answers for Dallas' Commuter Rail". RailNews. pp. 11–12. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
- 1 2 Fancher, Julie (April 14, 2017). "DART is selling these cool vintage railcars". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
- 1 2 "Vermont solar panel company buys RDCs". Trains. April 10, 2017. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
- 1 2 Hall, C.B. (August 15, 2017). "AllEarth's commuter rail Budd cars pull into Vermont". Vermont Business Magazine. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
- ↑ "Worldwide Review [regular monthly news section]". Tramways & Urban Transit. UK: LRTA Publishing. October 2017. p. 394. ISSN 1460-8324.
External links
Route map:
- Official website
| Services |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Transit centers | ||
| Connecting bus services | ||
| Connecting rail services | ||