NT MOVES

The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), on behalf of its partners, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), Trinity Metro (TM) and Trinity Railway Express (TRE) submitted and was awarded a grant application in FY2020, through the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) discretionary grant for rail improvements on the commuter rail network owned by DART and operated by DART, TM and the Trinity Railway Express commuter service. The North Texas Multimodal Operations, Velocity, Efficiency, and Safety Program (NT MOVES) is a long‐range plan for increasing freight and passenger mobility in Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) through strategic investment in rail capacity to improve multimodal transportation.
 
NT MOVES is a program of road and railway improvements in the North Central Texas region intended to enhance freight and passenger mobility across all modes. This NT MOVES application is a portion of the system of projects, validated by computer simulation modeling and input from the public and private sectors, that adds capacity to facilitate freight movement on the Fort Worth and Dallas freight routes, and commuter operations between Fort Worth and Dallas.
 
The NT MOVES Program is an ambitious and innovative approach to resolving long-standing congestion issues with freight and passenger rail integration in the DFW region. TxDOT Rail Division, NCTCOG and the private rail sector have come together to develop a regional rail study to help identify and resolve rail bottle necks and operational issues within the North Central Texas region. While working with local transit and private freight rail providers, it was determined that this study would be best developed and implemented in two phases. Phase 1 focused on freight and passenger rail integration congestion issues and Phase 2 will focus on rail/highway interaction issues. This method has resulted in a systemwide analysis of the rail network in the DFW region and systemized approach to resolving rail issues.
 
Through Rail Traffic Controller modeling, with input from UPRR, BNSF and local transit agencies, the proper projects are being identified and are being addressed as soon as possible. The full study will be completed later this year, while Phase 1 has resulted in the North Texas MOVES program. This approach allows for regional rail partners to come together quickly and work to identify funds to be used for the projects. DART and BNSF have identified opportunities to work together on design and track construction. TxDOT is also supporting the effort through assistance with engineering, design and environmental study support. This collaboration helps to reduce the soft cost, construction timelines and track outages during implementation. The regional partners are now working together on projects that are the highest priority for all.

Staff Contacts:  Jeff Hathcock, Mike Johnson, Dan Lamers