Finally, TEX Rail project underway from Fort Worth to Grapevine and DFW

GRAPEVINE -- Ceremoniously riding in a train pulled by a 1953 vintage diesel engine, leaders from Fort Worth, Grapevine and North Richland Hills on Wednesday celebrated the beginning of a commuter rail project they say will change their communities.

“Where the rail goes, the communities flourish,” Grapevine Mayor William D. Tate said during a groundbreaking ceremony for the TEX Rail project outside his city’s historical Main Street Depot. “Where it passes them by, they wither and die.”

Wednesday marked the official kickoff of the $1.034 billion project, which is more than a decade in the making. The commuter trains will begin running in late 2018 with routes as frequent as every 30 minutes during peak workday periods and about every hour during nonpeak periods.

The project isn’t fully funded, but Fort Worth Transportation Authority officials say they have enough money and permission from the federal government to get started on construction. The project includes nine train stations along a 27-mile route from downtown Fort Worth to North Richland Hills, Grapevine and DFW Airport’s Terminal B.

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