Rail connection plans for D/FW re-evaluated

12:00 AM CST on Sunday, March 8, 2009

By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News
bformby@dallasnews.com

Transportation officials studying how best to connect North Texas rail lines to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport could come up with a last-minute alternative to DART’s Orange Line.

For years, Irving leaders have been planning for the Orange Line to directly connect $4 billion worth of development projects to the airport by 2013. They aren’t happy with the possible changes.

But the Regional Transportation Council’s studies could have implications for more than just Irving. They probably will shape the future for connecting several North Texas rail projects in an area that is notorious for daily highway logjams.

“Just look at all the people on the [State Highway] 114 corridor today,” said Michael Morris, transportation director of the North Central Texas Council of Governments. “That’s the market for these rail lines.”

Current plans call for the Orange Line in Irving and the Cotton Belt line just north of the airport to connect near terminals A and B. Some regional and airport officials now wonder whether the rail lines and the airport’s SkyLink people mover should tie in together at a hub farther north.

The transportation council sets transportation policy for the council of governments. Its findings will be considered by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board, which has the final say on the Orange Line’s route.

“In a couple of weeks, we’ll have a detailed forecast,” Morris said.

Irving officials have used the promise of a direct airport connection with the Orange Line to lure relocating businesses, dazzle mixed-use developers and commit to a $200 million convention center and entertainment complex.

Officials there said they don’t want to pit themselves against other cities or regional authorities. But, they said, they have supported the light-rail idea for decades. They’ve spent millions of dollars getting things in place for the Orange Line. Plus, they point out, financing for their line is secured, while the financial backing to get passenger trains on the Cotton Belt is not a sure thing.

Changes on the Orange Line’s final segment could increase the price by as much as $150 million, DART officials estimate.

“All we want is what we were promised,” Irving council member Rick Stopfer said.

DART owns a 52-mile stretch of the Cotton Belt rail line from downtown Fort Worth to Wylie that runs through suburbs including Grapevine, Coppell, Carrollton and Addison. The T, Tarrant County’s transportation agency, wants to operate passenger rail service from southeast Fort Worth to the airport by 2013 that would use part of the Cotton Belt line. So far, The T has secured about half of the estimated $471 million it will need for the entire line.

DART initially planned to be operating passenger rail along the portion of the Cotton Belt that runs from the airport to an east Plano light-rail station by about 2027. But DART and cities along that route are trying to find funding to push the deadline up to 2013 or 2014.

Morris said the transportation council wanted a fresh look at how all these lines connect to the airport because of the changing timetables that could result in several new lines suddenly operating in the same place at the same time.

One idea is to create a hub on the northern edge of the airport in Grapevine. A SkyLink line could bring people from that station south to the airport. Cotton Belt trains for The T and DART would also tie in, as would DART’s Orange Line.

This would force people trying to get from Irving to the airport to make an extra transfer. But it would provide a more direct route for others, like those traveling from northeast Tarrant County on to cities such as Carrollton or Plano, and for those going from Irving’s Las Colinas to cities like Grapevine or Fort Worth.

The transportation council, DART, the airport and The T are looking at several issues including determining where rail passengers wanting to get to the airport would check bags. They are also looking at who is likely to ride and where they would be heading. Many details have yet to be worked out, they say.

“All the parties want to make this as effective and efficient as possible to the riders and also to the airport,” said Joan Hunter, a spokeswoman for The T.

Officials have cited another advantage to putting a multiline hub in Grapevine: the possibility for a major mixed-use development around the lines. Connecting everything within the confines of airport terminals would make such a development nearly impossible.

DART president Gary Thomas told Irving City Council members last week that the important thing is to make decisions by June so his agency can finish the last leg of the Orange Line on time. Thomas said in an interview that he would take direction from the transportation council on what to recommend to the DART board, which will make the final call on where the Orange Line ends.

“There’s pros and cons both ways,” Thomas said.