June 16, 2016 - TRA Newswire

Fort Worth Transportation Authority officials said that construction on the TEXRail line from downtown Fort Worth to DFW International Airport is expected to begin in July, despite an attempt from the city of Colleyville before the Regional Transportation Council to kill the 27 mile project.

The Colleyville city council in a  5-2 vote on May 19 passed a resolution permanently barring the city’s participation in the construction of any rail station within the city limits. The city requested that the Regional Transportation Council consider their resolution today but the governing board declined to advance it. It would have called for a public referendum in the November 2016 general election. A white paper developed by the North Central Texas Council of Governments showed a 50-year history within the DFW region of public and private sectors requesting that passenger rail be part of a broad transportation policy.

Colleyville's existing railroad crossings received funding from the Fort Worth Transportation Authority for quiet zones, where trains will not need to blow horns when crossing the roads. It's not clear if Colleyville will have to reimburse the agency since no trains will stop in the town.

The TEXRail service is expected to be ready for passengers in 2018 and will initially run from downtown Fort Worth, through North Richland Hills and Grapevine before terminating at DFW Airport's Terminal B. Passengers could then transfer to the DART Orange line to Las Colinas and Dallas.  Nine stations will be constructed, starting in July

TEX Rail's projections call for 8,000 daily riders by the end of the first year of service.