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[CNJRoss]

Dallas Morning News, 12/22:

Tower 55 ties up trains, economy
FW: Study to seek solution to crossing of 2 railroad lines

Under the web of freeways south of downtown Fort Worth, freight trains routinely sit idle, waiting to proceed through an intersection that has become one of the biggest transportation snarls in North Texas.

Delays at this railroad intersection, known as Tower 55, can be up to 90 minutes. With about 100 trains a day trying to cross Tower 55, trains are almost always waiting.

Local transportation officials say a solution to Tower 55 is imperative, and not just because the tie-up slows the eastward movement of foreign-made big-screen TVs and other consumer goods from ports in California – or delays the delivery of parts to the GM plant in Arlington.

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[CNJRoss]

The Dallas Morning News, 12/22/09:

Fort Worth mayor Moncrief talks to Biden about fixing freight rail lines

Fort Worth officials and regional planners have long tried to get federal support behind solving the infamous freight train delays at a railroad intersection south of downtown.

Mayor Mike Moncrief on Monday seemingly made more progress with one phone call than North Texas politicians have made in years of lobbying federal lawmakers. Moncrief's audience: Vice President Joe Biden.

The Fort Worth leader was one of four mayors who participated in a conference call with Biden. The conversation centered on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, how it has helped cities and what has caused problems.

Moncrief said he took the opportunity to try to gain federal support for fixing Tower 55, where the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific rail lines meet near downtown Fort Worth. There aren't enough tracks for all the trains that come through the intersection. Thus, freight trains routinely sit idle as they wait their turn to make it through Fort Worth.

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[CNJRoss]

Star Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, 7/20:

Tower 55 project still on track, officials say

Ten months after a $91 million effort to unlock train gridlock and make railroad crossings safer in Fort Worth was approved, work on the Tower 55 project has not begun.

But officials say it's still on track.

"Once we get the agreements signed by all the parties, we can move into the construction phase, and our goal is still to begin in April 2012 and end in February 2014," Union Pacific Railroad spokesman Clint Schelbitzki said Wednesday during a tour of the company's Davidson Yard in west Fort Worth.

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[CNJRoss]

TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY LAHOOD ANNOUNCES $34 MILLION TO ALLEVIATE CONGESTION AT ONE OF THE LARGEST RAIL BOTTLENECKS IN AMERICA

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U.S.Department of Transportation
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, D.C.
www.dot.gov/affairs/briefing.htm
News

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FRA 20-11
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Contact: Brie N. Sachse
Tel.: (XXX) XXX-XXXX


U.S. Department of Transportation also Announces $15 Million to Pave the Way for a Houston – Dallas-Fort Worth High-Speed Passenger Rail Corridor

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today joined with Texas officials and railroad industry leaders to announce nearly $50 million in rail investments to bolster both passenger and freight service through the state, and jumpstart planning for high-speed rail between Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth.

A $34 million TIGER II grant will fund major rail improvements on the Tower 55 project in Fort Worth, TX, and reduce traffic delays by 100,000 hours per year. The Tower 55 project will alleviate congestion at one of the busiest railroad intersections in the United States, where ten freight and passenger rail routes converge and carry more than 100 trains per day. The high volume of trains currently results in lengthy delays for area commuters and passengers, which will be greatly reduced thanks to these rail upgrades.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Transportation today announced a $15 million high-speed rail grant for Texas that will jumpstart engineering and environmental work on a high-speed rail corridor linking two of the largest metro areas in the U.S., Dallas-Fort Worth to Houston. The State of Texas is one of 32 states across the country currently laying the foundation for future high-speed rail service that will connect Americans more quickly, efficiently and safely than ever before.

“These projects are part of President Obama’s bold vision for investing in freight and passenger rail projects that will create jobs and grow our economy over the long-term by moving people and goods more quickly and efficiently than ever before,” said Secretary Ray LaHood. “Through our robust public-private partnership with state, local and industry partners on the Tower 55 project, we’re eliminating a longstanding bottleneck for freight rail, creating capacity to handle future rail demand as our population grows, and strengthening the foundation for economic development across the region.”

In addition to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s investment, the City of Ft. Worth, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), BNSF Railway (BNSF) and Union Pacific Railroad (UP) are providing funding to help install new signaling, bridge upgrades, a third track line, and improved street and pedestrian crossings. Once complete, rail capacity will increase by more than 30 percent, making it more efficient for rail freight shippers and improve commuter rail reliability and performance.

“Tower 55 is a crossroads of the North American continent,” said Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.” This project will allow the Tower to go from a legacy chokepoint to the model of a freight and passenger checkpoint, a facility featuring efficiency, safety, and convenience.”

According to Senator John Cornyn, “Tower 55 is a crossroads of the Texas economy. These improvements will help ensure our state remains the economic leader it is while improving the safety and commute times of those within Fort Worth.”

"The Tower 55 improvement project will create hundreds of jobs and will bring in over $1 billion to our economy while upgrading one of the most congested rail intersections in the country,” said Congresswoman Kay Granger. “ Tower 55 is the crossroads of the rail industry in Texas and this grant is a great example of what can be achieved when federal, state, and local partners work together with the private sector to find solutions."

“This is about safety and economic well-being,” said Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. “When the trains back up, cities all the way into Denton County face blocked rail crossings. And goods moving from the North to the South and the East to the West are delayed. Improvements to Tower 55 not only benefit Fort Worth, but the state of Texas and the nation as well.”

"This project could not have happened without the unprecedented collaboration of a number of entities that supported this essential project," said Texas Transportation Commissioner William Meadows. "The Tower 55 Multimodal Improvement Project exemplifies the strong commitment of the Texas Department of Transportation to comprehensive transportation planning, and an acknowledgment that a transportation system includes many different and diverse components."

“Partnerships have been a vital part of Fort Worth’s continued efforts to protect and preserve our quality of life,” said Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price. “So, it is appropriate — and not the least bit surprising — that another vital partnership has produced more positive results. This collaboration will address serious challenges to our region’s mobility and commerce, and, more importantly, to the safety of our residents.”

The Tower 55 project will create approximately 900 jobs, and provide greater safety with reduced delays for motorists and pedestrians at area highway-rail crossings and bridges. With decreased train delays and blocked crossings, the project will achieve a projected 1.9 million ton reduction in carbon emissions from idling locomotives and automobiles. Construction is expected to begin in early 2012. In addition to the $34 million TIGER II grant, the project will be funded with matching contributions, including: $1 million from TxDOT; a $1 million from the City of Ft. Worth; and $65 million from BNSF and UP.

Under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s popular Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program, $600 million has been awarded to 42 capital construction projects and 33 planning projects in 40 states for crucial upgrades to highways, bridges, transit systems, rail lines, bicycle and pedestrian paths and ports. TIGER II grants were awarded to projects that promote innovative, multimodal transportation, increase energy-efficiency and provide significant economic benefits to an entire metropolitan area, region or the nation.

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[CNJRoss]

Omaha (NE) World Herald, 8/25:

End in sight for overhaul of busy rail junction – which is also a choke point


A project to overhaul a critical rail junction, seen here in high gear earlier this month, is nearly complete. The pressure is on Union Pacific Corp. and BNSF Railway to end shipping delays set off by a tough winter. The intersection, in Fort Worth, Texas, is used by five railroads.


Union Pacific Corp. and BNSF Railway are almost finished with a $104 million overhaul of the nation’s busiest rail intersection that is key to moving freight and passengers nationally and internationally.

The work is wrapping up as the nation’s seven Class 1 freight railroads face a country full of angry shippers. A tough winter set off shipping delays starting in February, floods came in the spring, and the industry has yet to catch up.

The four-way intersection in Fort Worth, Texas, known as Tower 55 for the control tower there, sees about 100 trains a day pass through. Hemmed in by neighborhoods and elevated freeways, it’s been one of the nation’s biggest freight choke points. Trains have had to start slowing and staging as far away as 17 miles out, causing delays of up to 90 minutes.

More here.

[CNJRoss]

WFAA-TV (ABC), Dallas-Fort Worth, TX, 11/7:

Railroad improvement ends bottleneck, boosts economy

"By 2050 we'll move an additional 100 million passengers by rail, and a corresponding increase in freight."


FORT WORTH -- Up to 110 trains per day rumble through tower 55. That's the name of the railroad junction beneath the highway junction of I-30 and 35-W.

Or as Lance Fritz, the president of Union Pacific, called it, "the worst bottleneck on our UP line." Fritz is happy to speak of the problem in past tense now.

Tower 55 had two tracks going from north and south, and two more going east and west. Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe lost money as trains waited up to 24 hours to get through. Kids crawled over idling trains to get to school. Motorists waited ages at crossings. Waiting locomotives spewed thousands of tons of pollutants.

"So now we won't have that," said Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price.

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[KevinKorell]

I don't see how just adding a north-south track and an east-west track through the intersection is going to help things. Two trains that meet at right angles, no matter how many tracks they have to choose from, one of them will have to stop to let the other pass. There are severe restraints at that location sitting underneath a freeway overpass, so a grade separation was not possible. The interlocking is also used by the Texas Eagle, which uses BNSF south of it and UP east of it, and also has to go north of Tower 55 to serve the Fort Worth Intermodal Center. It seems to me that things would be simpler if the Texas Eagle could use the ex-Rock Island routing followed by Trinity Railway Express (TRE) to eliminate backup moves through Tower 55. TRE traverses the interlocking north and west Tower 55 on its final segment between Fort Worth Intermodal Center and the T&P Station.

[CNJRoss]

Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, 11/12:

Editorial
With completion of Tower 55, Fort Worth will remain major rail hub

It is officially called a “railroad interlocking,” but Tower 55 in downtown Fort Worth — site of one of the busiest rail intersections in the country — very well could have been called simply “the lock.”

Named for the tower from which north-south and and east-west rail traffic was managed for decades, the intersection in recent years has been known for its long delays of trains that backed up for miles in all directions. The constant congestion held up commerce, blocked intersections and was a major safety hazard, especially for children in some of the nearby neighborhoods.

SNIP

Fort Worth, part of the largest metropolitan area in the country without direct access to a seaport, has long been a rail hub. With these improvements, and the continuing growth of the rail industry, the city is poised to remain an important rail destination.

Read more here.

[CNJRoss]

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