Commuter Rail For The East Side
by Kevin Buchanan
I’ve just received this info from the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber Of Commerce, and decided it needed to be made known. There will be a meeting May 1st at the Handley-Meadowbrook Community Center (Map) at 6:00 PM in support of efforts by the FWMBCC to persuade the city to support the creation of two commuter rail lines using existing tracks near Lancaster and Rosedale to serve the east side of the city. Read the Message from the FWMBCC after the jump:
Dear Concerned Citizens:
On May 1, 2008, The Eastside Coalition for Commuter Rail Line will meet a The Handley- Meadowbrook Community Center, 6201 Beaty St, Fort Worth TX 76112. The meeting will begin at 6:00 pm.
The Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce (FWMBCC) is concerned that East Fort Worth will not have an equal opportunity for a rail line as other parts of North Texas will.
Our community has to insure that that the East Side of Fort Worth is included in the influx of growth and wealth that the Commuter Rail would bring. There will be a tremendous affect on the economic development of our great city and the inhabitants around it. Our coalition has been working diligently for the last five years to get cooperation with the two entities involved to use the existing line adjacent to the Lancaster and Rosedale Communities for two commuter trains between Fort Worth & Dallas.
You are invited to attend and participate in this event. Your voice can only be heard when you speak out, so please be there.
For more information please contact me at 817-871-6538.Thank You,
Major Attaway
Director of Economic Development
Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce
Tags: Black Chamber, commuter rail, East Fort Worth, eastside, public transit, The T, TRE
18 Comments, Comments or Pings
Ben
This is wishful thinking at best. Union Pacific will never allow this or any other commuter trains on their main line going east/west. This is why they are considering using the TRE to serve Arlington & the new Cowboys stadium. If this was actually possible they would use the UP line that goes right by the new stadium along Division.
Apr 30th, 2008
b kooistra
if enough gummint money is put on the table, the railroads will bend over backwards to pick it up. Short of adding a third main track all the way to Dallas, though, Ben is right.
Apr 30th, 2008
Pete Wann
Ben, I really love how your comments are always so optimistic and forward-thinking. You’re like a breath of fresh air to the site.
Without you, we’d be all doom and gloom and “Fort Worth sucks!” or “Things will never get better here!” I really appreciate the positive vibes you put off with your comments…
Apr 30th, 2008
Pete G
Pete W–Let’s try to keep our comments from getting personal, please.
Apr 30th, 2008
Ben
I happen to know a little bit about the subject, as the coment from the other poster seem to attest. Sorry to ruin your rose colored view of the world but it really is the reality of the situation. All the press releases in the world aren’t going to change UP’s mind!
Apr 30th, 2008
Pete Wann
I debated about posting that comment. I actually posted it, then immediately went in and put it into moderation because I wasn’t sure of the tone.
Now I’m glad it got posted, because I’m even more sure of the intent and meaning behind the sarcasm.
Here’s the difference between how I see the world and how you apparently see it, Ben:
When you read that press release, you immediately think (according to your comments, at least) “That’ll never happen. Union Pacific will never do it.”
When I read it, particularly when I read this sentence:
Our coalition has been working diligently for the last five years to get cooperation with the two entities involved to use the existing line adjacent to the Lancaster and Rosedale Communities for two commuter trains between Fort Worth & Dallas.
I think “Awesome! What a better thing than a concerned group of businesspersons and business owners getting together to work with government and other business owners to try to make sure that their neighborhood is not left out of the progress that’s being made in other parts of the city?”
I happen to know a little bit about the subject as well. What I know is that when a small but determined group of relatively influential people (or at least people with some money) get together to work on something for the betterment of their community, the community and government take notice and the things they’re working on tend to happen.
My view isn’t “rose colored” or “naive” or “Pollyanna” or any other term you want use to ridicule my hope and desires for a better city for everyone. I’m firmly rooted in reality, and the reality is that when people get together and make an effort, things change. Maybe not always as fast as we’d like them to, but change still happens, despite the efforts of people who only see the “reality of the situation.”
REAL reality, the one the rest of us operate in, is one where things can be changed through hard work and collective effort, despite the resistance and negative comments of the entrenched and the self-interested.
May 1st, 2008
John Peter Smith
Question: How smart is it to have commuter rail sharing the track with freight trains?
I was under the impression that commuter and freight trains tried to avoid each other. Freight trains don’t like the possibility of slamming into a passenger train and killing dozens of people. Commuter doesn’t like the have to wait on the freight trains. I thought that was what makes the proposed SW/NE rail possible, the track isn’t being used.
May 1st, 2008
Bernie
Well, the TRE shares track with freight trains, and has been doing so for several years, so without question it can be done.
If the track is unused by freight rail, that makes scheduling much easier… I think one of the reasons the TRE runs less frequently than the SW/NE is proposed to run is to allow freight traffic to pass.
May 1st, 2008
Ben
TRE owns the tracks, so they get to decide who has priority. UP owns the Lancaster/Arlington tracks so they decide.
May 1st, 2008
whh
I live in Chicago now but try to keep up with my hometown via websites like this one.
Anyway, to add to the discussion I take commuter rail every day from a suburb about 30 miles west of the city and I can assure you my train shares the same tracks as freight trains. As a matter of fact all heavy rail commuter trains (METRA) in Chicago run on both Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe lines that also feature heavy freight traffic.
May 1st, 2008
b kooistra
Bernie wrote:
” Well, the TRE shares track with freight trains, and has been doing so for several years, so without question it can be done.
If the track is unused by freight rail, that makes scheduling much easier… I think one of the reasons the TRE runs less frequently than the SW/NE is proposed to run is to allow freight traffic to pass.”
TRE could run many more trains than they do, but the issue isn’t freight interference–Herzog is contracted to operate the TRE as well as dispatch it, and their No. 1 priority is the passenger traffic. By nature of the market, the heaviest times for commuter traffic is in the mornings and early evenings. What freight traffic that does operate on the line runs in assigned slots in the mid-day hours and during the night-time hours.
If TRE had a greater operating budget, double-track all the way from Fort Woth to Dallas, and had the equipment, they could operate many, many more trains than they do. TRE is just a start, but hardly a high-density commuter operation as you’d find in Chicago, New York or even the peninsula south of San Francisco.
There is no problem with heavy-rail commuter trains and freight trains sharing the same railroad. The problem is putting light-rail or DMU vehicles on lines with freight trains–light rail equipment and the new generation Diesel M.U. cars have a lower requirement for crashworthyness which lowers their weight, lowers their cost, and restricts them pretty much to passenger-only railroads.
May 1st, 2008
Mary
I attended the meeting this evening. Michael Morris (I think that was his name) from North Texas Council of Governments was the featured speaker. He told us of three developments that might make this actually happen in the near future. It sounds promising.
1. Tower 55 is getting some funding and attention. This was apparently an excuse or a stumbling block in the past.
2. There is the possibility that AMTRAC might be moved to the TRE tracks between Dallas and Fort Worth, That would unclog the UP tracks and make room for some commuter trains.
3. Superbowl, 2011.
Also, the possibilty of building another set of tracks on the UP right of way alongside their tracks. Michael encourages us to keep up with developments and provide visible support when there are public meetings on the subject.
May 1st, 2008
b kooistra
funny isn’t it–but not unexpected–that nothing happens with regards to mass-transit through the arlington corridor until the Super bowl and its millions of corporate bucks is mentioned. Jerry Jones has already bled Arlington and Tarrant County for millions. . .Arlington should have had a bus system years ago, and a rail commuter line should have already been in place here.
I guess without that new Cowboys Stadium, no one would even be considering such transportation amenities.
May 1st, 2008
Ben
The reason AMTRAK want to move is because they are the lowest priority on the UP tracks. TRE is under no obligation to do this, and has rejected previous requests.
May 2nd, 2008
John Peter Smith
I always thought it strange that Jerry Jones didn’t make a rail connection a requirement for any site for his new stadium. But then I guess he figured that he would build it and it would come, the same way those new freeway exits magically appeared to serve Texas Motor Speedway.
May 3rd, 2008
Ben
Ironically now they will have light rail at the old stadium, which seems to be a tremendous waste of money. Las Colinas isn’t the employment center it used to be & you can get to the airport with existing rail to the north & south. Is it OK to be negative about Dallas Pete?
May 4th, 2008
Jonathan
All discussion aside, that press release needs some serious editing. Ensure, effect, cooperation from (or ‘to cooperate with’) etc.
May 5th, 2008
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