Subscribe to download
Trinity Railway Express F7A

The Trinity Railway Express is a commuter rail service in the US state of Texas. It commenced operations on December 30th, 1996, and gets its name from the nearby Trinity River. The line runs for a distance of 34 miles from Dallas Union Station to Fort Worth Texas & Pacific station. There are 10 stations on the route, which are as follows:

Dallas Union Station
Victory
Medical/Market Centre
Downtown Irving/Heritage Crossing
West Irving
CentrePort/DFW Airport
Hurst/Bell
Richland Hills
Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Centre
Fort Worth Texas & Pacific

When it first opened, the service only ran as far as Downtown Irving/Heritage Crossing. On September the 18th, 2000, the line was extended to Richland Hills station. This meant that there was finally a passenger train connecting downtown Dallas with Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. West Irving station was opened on November the 13th, 2000. On December 3, 2001, TRE services were extended to their current terminus at Texas & Pacific station.

Connections can be made with Amtrak's Texas Eagle service at both Dallas Union Station and Fort Worth ITC. TRE services also connect to Dallas Area Rapid Transit Light Rail at Union Station. TRE services run throughout the day during the week, and on Saturdays as well, but there are no Sunday services. Not all services run the full length of the line, as some of them start or end at CentrePort/DFW Airport and West Irving. Victory station was only used for special events until September 2009, when the Green Line of the DART light rail opened. Since then it has been served by regular TRE services.

There are nine locomotives operated by the Trinity Railway Express. Seven of them are EMD F59PH's, while the other two are EMD F59PHi's. The only external difference between the two types is that the F59PHi has a streamlined cab. The F59PH locomotives were purchased second-hand from GO Transit in Toronto, arriving in Texas for the start of TRE services in December 1996. Their original numbers were 525, 527, 528, 565, 567 and 568. In 2010, the locomotives were overhauled by Norfolk Southern and RELCO Locomotive to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards, being renumbered as 120 - 126 in the process. As for the two F59PHi's, they were purchased brand-new from EMD in 2001, and are numbered 569 and 570.

The number carried by this re-skin carries on from the F59PHi numbers. In real-life there was never an F7A operated by the Trinity Railway Express.

There are 25 passenger cars on the TRE, and they’re all Bi-Level cars built by either Bombardier, Can-Car Rail or Hawker-Siddeley Canada. Between March/April 1997 and March 2011, the TRE also operated 13 Budd Rail Diesel Cars, otherwise known as RDC's.