The Trinity Railway Express (TRE) is a commuter rail service in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Texas, United States. It was established by an interlocal agreement between Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Trinity Metro. Each transit authority owns a 50% stake in the joint rail project and contractor Herzog Transit Services operates the line. The TRE began operating in December 1996.

In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of , making it the seventeenth most-ridden commuter rail system in the United States.

Before 2006, the TRE was typically shown as a green line on DART maps and therefore was sometimes referred to as the "Green Line," but this was not an official designation. In 2006, DART chose green as the color for its new light rail route, the . Since 2006, the TRE has been shown as a dark blue line on DART maps.

History

Named after the Trinity River, the West Fork of which flows from Fort Worth to Dallas, the TRE was launched on December 30, 1996, and Saturday service was added in December 1998.

On September 18, 2000, the line was extended to the suburb of Richland Hills being replaced by Trinity Lakes station, which opened on February 19, 2024.

TRE has leased one locomotive, three coach cars and two cab car from Minneapolis' defunct Northstar Line for the duration of the 2026 FIFA World Cup for increased service.

Service

TRE provides service six days a week from 4 AM (5 AM on Saturdays) to midnight (1 AM on Fridays). Trains are scheduled to arrive once every hour, or once every half-hour on weekdays during peak periods (4 to 9 AM and 2 to 7 PM).

Rolling Stock

{| class="wikitable"

|----- bgcolor=#f9f9f9

! rowspan="2" | Class 

! rowspan="2" |Image

! rowspan="2" | Type(s) 

! colspan="2" | Top speed 

! rowspan="2" | Number 

! rowspan="2" | Built 

|----- bgcolor=#f9f9f9

! mph 

! km/h 

|-

|EMD F40PH

|

|Diesel Locomotive

|110

|177

|2

|1981–1985

|-

|EMD F59PH

|100px

|Diesel Locomotive

|110

|177

|7

|1988–1994

Late 2010 (Overhaul)

|-

|EMD F59PHI

|100px

|Diesel Locomotive

|110

|177

|2

|2001

|-

|Bombardier BiLevel Coach

|100px

|Coach Car<br />Cab Car

|95

|150

|25

|1976–77<br />2003<br />2007<br />2009

|-

! colspan="7" align="center"| Former fleet

|-

|Budd RDC-1

|100px

|Diesel Multiple Unit

|85

  • EMD F59PHI (2001)

There are two EMD F59PHI locomotives that were purchased from EMD. The numbers for these are #569 and #570.

  • EMD F40PH (2022)

TRE acquired 2 ex-Amtrak F40PHs No. 270 and 274 from Progress Rail in late 2021 and delivered in January 2022. They are numbered 130 and 131.

  • Siemens SCD-42E Chargers (2026)

TRE announced an order for Siemens Charger locomotives in 2024, which are to be delivered in Mid 2026. They are slated to replace the older locomotives in the fleet.

Coaches

  • Bombardier Transportation and Hawker Siddeley bi-level cabs and coaches

1000-1001 built 1983 (now coaches 1048-1049)

1002-1003 built 2003

1004-1009 built 2007

Former fleet

Until 2011, the TRE fleet included diesel multiple units, in the form of 13 Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) built in the 1950s for Canadian Pacific (9), Canadian National (3) and Boston & Maine (1). They were purchased used from Via Rail Canada in 1993. All were remanufactured by GEC-Alsthom in Montreal. They entered service in March and April 1997after trains leased from Amtrak and the Connecticut Department of Transportation temporarily provided initial TRE service when the RDCs were not ready in time for the inauguration of TRE service in December 1996and thereafter provided all service for the line's first two to three years. They remained in service for about 14 years, the last cars being taken off of TRE service in March 2011. In 2010–2011, 11 of the 13 cars were leased to Denton County Transportation Authority for operation on the A-train. They were returned in 2012 and placed in storage at the TRE shops in Irving, Texas. In spring 2017, 12 RDCs were sold via auction to AllEarth Rail, a Vermont-based private company that intends to use them to operate commuter rail service connecting the Vermont cities of Montpelier and Burlington. before they had left Texas, and those two Dallas RDCs (Nos. 2007 and 2011) were moved in August 2017 from Texas to Oregon, where TriMet planned to use them on its WES Commuter Rail service. The other 10 RDCs were moved to Vermont the same month.

In preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Trinity Railway Express has leased locomotives and cars from Minneapolis' former Northstar Line, including two MotivePower MPXpress locomotives and eight Bombardier BiLevel Coaches.

Train consist

thumb|Trinity Railway Express train with [[Bombardier BiLevel Coaches]]

Each train includes at least one locomotive unit and one bi-level cab car. Typically, one or two additional coach cars are included between the locomotive and cab car. Each cab car (and thus each train) has a restroom and passengers may move between cars during the trip.

Travel times and proposed improvements

The trip from Union Station to T&P Station takes just over an hour, with scheduled trip times ranging from one hour, three minutes to one hour, eleven minutes. Track improvements are proposed, which should offer an improvement in travel times by double-tracking certain stations and sections of the route. As of 2025, portions of the route are single-track, requiring eastbound and westbound trains to meet only at certain points and requiring some eastbound trains to hold for 5–7 minutes to wait for a westbound train to get to the passing area.

Stations

Stations in the West fare zone are included in Trinity Metro local fares, while stations in the East fare zone are included in DART local fares. Travel from one zone to the other requires a regional fare from either agency.

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|-

!Fare zone

! Station

! Parking

! Municipality

! Points of interest and major connections

|-

| rowspan="4" |West<br/>(Tarrant County)

|T&P Station

| align="center" |20px

| rowspan="3" |Fort Worth

| Trinity Metro:

|-

|Fort Worth Central Station

|

|Serves Fort Worth Convention Center, Fort Worth Water Gardens, Sundance Square<br /> Trinity Metro: <br /> Amtrak: ,

|-

|

| align="center" |20px

|Will serve planned Trinity Lakes mixed-use transit-oriented development

|-

|Bell

| align="center" |20px

|Hurst

|Serves Bell Textron plant

|-

|West/East

|CentrePort/DFW Airport

| align="center" |20px

|Fort Worth

|Serves Dallas Fort Worth International Airport via TRE Link shuttle

|-

| rowspan="5" |East<br/>(Dallas County)

|West Irving

| align="center" |20px

| rowspan="2" |Irving

|

|-

|Downtown Irving/Heritage Crossing

| align="center" |20px

|

|-

|Medical/Market Center

|

| rowspan="3" |Dallas

|Serves Parkland Memorial Hospital, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Children's Medical Center, Dallas Market Center

|-

|Victory

|

|Serves American Airlines Center<br /> DART rail:

|-

|Union Station

|

|Serves Reunion Tower, Dealey Plaza<br /> DART rail: <br /> Amtrak: <br />

|}

<gallery class="center">

File:DART S Irving Sta.jpg|TRE train at South Irving station

File:Texas&PacificStation1.jpg|The TRE stops at the historic T&P Station in Fort Worth

File:TRE@FWITC.jpg|Trinity Railway Express train pulling into Fort Worth Central Station

</gallery>

References

  • Dallas Area Rapid Transit
  • Trinity Metro
  • Full DART Rail map