txaggie
November 23rd, 2006, 09:16 AM
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/16036596.htm
Posted on Fri, Nov. 17, 2006
Commuter train station at D/FW Airport is in the works
By GORDON DICKSON and DAVID WETHE
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
The world's third-busiest airport soon will be bustling with train riders, too.
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport officials say they'll build a train station between Terminals A and B in five to six years to connect trains from Fort Worth, Dallas and other Metroplex cities.
Now that Grapevine residents have approved a sales tax for rail, the Fort Worth Transportation Authority has the financial partner it needs to build a commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth to Northeast Tarrant County.
By 2012, the line would reach D/FW's north end.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit officials say they'll bring light rail to the north end of the airport by 2013.
"Can you imagine getting on a train at Hulen Mall and getting all the way into D/FW Airport?" said Jeff Fegan, the airport's chief executive. "It's probably not a bad deal if you don't want to fight the traffic on the roadways. I think it will certainly make it a heck of a lot more convenient, and certainly it's the right thing to do for this region, especially the way highway congestion is."
A tunnel walkway with moving sidewalks would connect the T and DART systems and also lead to airport escalators and the terminals. The place would likely be decorated in DART's signature yellow on one side and the T's red and blue on the other.
A North Central Texas Council of Governments computer model estimates that 2,900 people per day would use the station. Of those, 60 percent would be transferring between the T and DART; the rest would include airport workers and air travelers.
A Plano student might ride trains to Texas Christian University. A south Dallas resident could shop or work at Grapevine Mills. People all over the Metroplex could get to the airport without a car.
"It should be an exciting station, a station with a lot of activity," said Chad Edwards, a council of governments planner. "Now people are going to have a viable option to a taxi or a rental car to get downtown. With two systems coming together and all the people at the airport, it's going to be a great option for commuters and visitors to our region, and people who work at the airport."
The T's commuter rail line would extend from southwest Fort Worth, through the hospital district, downtown and the Stockyards, then into Northeast Tarrant County. In addition to the D/FW station, there would be two other stops in Grapevine.
DART's planned orange line to D/FW would extend through Irving's Las Colinas.
The rail systems aren't compatible -- the T's trains would be diesel-powered, while DART's streetcarlike trains are electric -- but they would dead-end within easy walking distance of each other.
Riders could use either rail system and connecting buses with a single ticket. Today, a day pass for the T and DART costs $4.50.
The agencies already co-own the Trinity Railway Express, which counts about 8,000 riders per day, although many riders are counted twice. The TRE runs five miles south of D/FW's terminals and offers frequent shuttle service from the CentrePort station to the airport, but only a smattering of air travelers use it.
The new station on the north end of D/FW would be more popular for those traveling to the airport because it would be in the heart of the terminal area, planners say.
But local commuters may benefit the most from the easy transfers between the T and DART. Tarrant County residents who want to access the eastern Metroplex's light-rail system would no longer have to make their way to downtown Dallas. From downtown Fort Worth, they could get to D/FW in about a half-hour.
"Our plan envisions D/FW to be an intermodal hub, not just as a destination but a transfer point, just as happens in downtown Dallas and Fort Worth," said Michael Morris, transportation director for the council of governments.
Years in the making
Getting the station set up by 2012 shouldn't be a problem, airport officials say. About $60 million from the Texas Mobility Fund is earmarked to lay tracks to Terminals A and B.
For the T train, a new spur must be built from the Cotton Belt line in Grapevine to D/FW's Terminal B, about two miles to the south. The tracks would run parallel to the southbound airport service road, and the T's boarding platform would be built between the service road and the International Parkway main lanes.
DART's light-rail tracks and overhead electrical lines would run parallel to the northbound service road near Terminal A. DART and D/FW officials are still talking about how to get the tracks across the east airfield and into Irving.
The station will remain separate from Skylink, the airport's elevated train that serves people who have cleared airport security.
However, to make the rail station easier for airline passengers to use, airport officials may install common-use ticket counters near the train station, where passengers could check bags, go through security and then take Skylink to any terminal. Those plans will be sorted out in the next couple of years.
The station, expected to cost tens of millions of dollars, could be paid for with debt backed by ticket taxes or cash from natural-gas royalties, airport officials say.
Rail bandwagon
Connecting airports to rail lines is a growing national trend, and at least 15 major airports already have direct rail access. Many cities are battling mandates to clean up polluted air and unclog highways, and rail helps relieve the pressure, said Scott Wintner, a spokesman for Airports Council International-North America.
D/FW has about 60 million passengers a year and will continue to grow, said Steve Van Beek, an airport adviser and director of Jacobs Consultancy.
"We may need the transit system," he said, "just to provide the relief."
Who will ride the train?
About 2,920 people would pass through the D/FW Airport rail station on a typical day, according to computerized modeling projections.
About 1,360 would come from Tarrant County: 300 airport workers, 870 people transferring to a DART train and 190 people arriving for other reasons, including air travel.
About 1,560 people would arrive daily from Dallas: 240 workers, 890 people transferring to the T and 430 arriving for other reasons, including air travel.
SOURCE: North Central Texas Council of Governments
Gordon Dickson, 817-685-3816 gdickson@star-telegram.com David Wethe, 817-685-3803 dwethe@star-telegram.com
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o1/txrngr/dfwrailhub.jpg
Posted on Fri, Nov. 17, 2006
Commuter train station at D/FW Airport is in the works
By GORDON DICKSON and DAVID WETHE
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
The world's third-busiest airport soon will be bustling with train riders, too.
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport officials say they'll build a train station between Terminals A and B in five to six years to connect trains from Fort Worth, Dallas and other Metroplex cities.
Now that Grapevine residents have approved a sales tax for rail, the Fort Worth Transportation Authority has the financial partner it needs to build a commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth to Northeast Tarrant County.
By 2012, the line would reach D/FW's north end.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit officials say they'll bring light rail to the north end of the airport by 2013.
"Can you imagine getting on a train at Hulen Mall and getting all the way into D/FW Airport?" said Jeff Fegan, the airport's chief executive. "It's probably not a bad deal if you don't want to fight the traffic on the roadways. I think it will certainly make it a heck of a lot more convenient, and certainly it's the right thing to do for this region, especially the way highway congestion is."
A tunnel walkway with moving sidewalks would connect the T and DART systems and also lead to airport escalators and the terminals. The place would likely be decorated in DART's signature yellow on one side and the T's red and blue on the other.
A North Central Texas Council of Governments computer model estimates that 2,900 people per day would use the station. Of those, 60 percent would be transferring between the T and DART; the rest would include airport workers and air travelers.
A Plano student might ride trains to Texas Christian University. A south Dallas resident could shop or work at Grapevine Mills. People all over the Metroplex could get to the airport without a car.
"It should be an exciting station, a station with a lot of activity," said Chad Edwards, a council of governments planner. "Now people are going to have a viable option to a taxi or a rental car to get downtown. With two systems coming together and all the people at the airport, it's going to be a great option for commuters and visitors to our region, and people who work at the airport."
The T's commuter rail line would extend from southwest Fort Worth, through the hospital district, downtown and the Stockyards, then into Northeast Tarrant County. In addition to the D/FW station, there would be two other stops in Grapevine.
DART's planned orange line to D/FW would extend through Irving's Las Colinas.
The rail systems aren't compatible -- the T's trains would be diesel-powered, while DART's streetcarlike trains are electric -- but they would dead-end within easy walking distance of each other.
Riders could use either rail system and connecting buses with a single ticket. Today, a day pass for the T and DART costs $4.50.
The agencies already co-own the Trinity Railway Express, which counts about 8,000 riders per day, although many riders are counted twice. The TRE runs five miles south of D/FW's terminals and offers frequent shuttle service from the CentrePort station to the airport, but only a smattering of air travelers use it.
The new station on the north end of D/FW would be more popular for those traveling to the airport because it would be in the heart of the terminal area, planners say.
But local commuters may benefit the most from the easy transfers between the T and DART. Tarrant County residents who want to access the eastern Metroplex's light-rail system would no longer have to make their way to downtown Dallas. From downtown Fort Worth, they could get to D/FW in about a half-hour.
"Our plan envisions D/FW to be an intermodal hub, not just as a destination but a transfer point, just as happens in downtown Dallas and Fort Worth," said Michael Morris, transportation director for the council of governments.
Years in the making
Getting the station set up by 2012 shouldn't be a problem, airport officials say. About $60 million from the Texas Mobility Fund is earmarked to lay tracks to Terminals A and B.
For the T train, a new spur must be built from the Cotton Belt line in Grapevine to D/FW's Terminal B, about two miles to the south. The tracks would run parallel to the southbound airport service road, and the T's boarding platform would be built between the service road and the International Parkway main lanes.
DART's light-rail tracks and overhead electrical lines would run parallel to the northbound service road near Terminal A. DART and D/FW officials are still talking about how to get the tracks across the east airfield and into Irving.
The station will remain separate from Skylink, the airport's elevated train that serves people who have cleared airport security.
However, to make the rail station easier for airline passengers to use, airport officials may install common-use ticket counters near the train station, where passengers could check bags, go through security and then take Skylink to any terminal. Those plans will be sorted out in the next couple of years.
The station, expected to cost tens of millions of dollars, could be paid for with debt backed by ticket taxes or cash from natural-gas royalties, airport officials say.
Rail bandwagon
Connecting airports to rail lines is a growing national trend, and at least 15 major airports already have direct rail access. Many cities are battling mandates to clean up polluted air and unclog highways, and rail helps relieve the pressure, said Scott Wintner, a spokesman for Airports Council International-North America.
D/FW has about 60 million passengers a year and will continue to grow, said Steve Van Beek, an airport adviser and director of Jacobs Consultancy.
"We may need the transit system," he said, "just to provide the relief."
Who will ride the train?
About 2,920 people would pass through the D/FW Airport rail station on a typical day, according to computerized modeling projections.
About 1,360 would come from Tarrant County: 300 airport workers, 870 people transferring to a DART train and 190 people arriving for other reasons, including air travel.
About 1,560 people would arrive daily from Dallas: 240 workers, 890 people transferring to the T and 430 arriving for other reasons, including air travel.
SOURCE: North Central Texas Council of Governments
Gordon Dickson, 817-685-3816 gdickson@star-telegram.com David Wethe, 817-685-3803 dwethe@star-telegram.com
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o1/txrngr/dfwrailhub.jpg