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Agreement reached to allow ‘Texas Eagle’ to use Trinity Railway Express track
It is amzing that something that makes so much sense could take 5 years to come to fruition (almost).
Did this really need to take this long?
My son & I were on the Eagle last August when it used the TRE trackage.
It was great not to go through the backing up & waiting that happen when
the Eagle must go via UP!!
Just adding my voice to others who can’t believe something so simple can be made so complicated!
I hope it can make some stops in between Dallas and Fort Worth. There are large communities on that line.
Does this route avoid Tower 55 congestion?
The wheels of progress turn slowly when it’s somebody else’s money…
“Tower 55” congestion is not eliminated, just backup moves.
The route off TRE crosses Tower 55 leaving Ft Worth. TRE has a segragated track into the Jones St station and the T&P station that does not cross (at grade) UP or BNSF tracks. Amtrak still has to cross the UP east west tracks departing or arriving Ft Worth from the south(Cleburne).
As Geoff said, this eliminates the back-up moves. Currently a westbound Eagle coming from Dallas into FW has to turn south on a wye, continue south about half a mile to switch onto another southbound track, stop, then back up that half mile across the diamonds at Tower 55 and on into the station. An eastbound has to back out of the FW station, go down to the crossover and stop, then head back north and take the wye east to Dallas. On the TRE routing, the Eagle will simply pull into the station and pull out.
To Mr. Parker from MA - I’m guessing that there will be no additional stops between Dallas and Ft. Worth (and it soesn’t make sense - it’s only 30 miles - and 45 minutes). Amtrak riders can simply take TRE to either station and change trains there.
This is great news! I wonder if Amtrak will go straight through or stop at a couple TRE stops, too. The DFW stop would be the most logical in between.
How about extending the Heartland Flyer to Dallas while we are at it. The additional distance, and hopefully additional cost, would be minimal, but the additional population base and potential ridership would be huge. It could potentially stop at DFW also, allowing Oklahomans the opportunity to fly from DFW instead of flying from a smaller airport with less flights and higher fares.
Ideally, I would like to see the Heartland Flyer extended south to Houston, via Dallas, providing a Houston connection to the Texas Eagle and north to Chicago, combined with the Southwest Chief east of Newton, KS.
Re: Earlier comments about the negotiations taking so long. Lawyers and politicians, that’s why.
This is great. How much time will it save?
Bring the Heartland Flyer over the TRE will either require a back up move, or the use of push-pull equipment. It could continue straight on to Dallas over the UP route currently used by the Texas Eagle with a single turn by Tower 55 at Fort Worth. But bringing the train to Houston or north to kansas, there’s that infamous equipment shortage again to deal with.