Train News

Fort Worth's Trinity Metro TEXRail beefs up service during the day

Trinity Metro

Beginning Sunday, November 3, Trinity Metro TEXRail is beefing up its schedule. According to a release, the transportation agency will increase the frequency of trains running during midday service to every 30 minutes. It's currently hourly.

This service improvement will provide consistent half-hour frequency for the majority of service hours.

“We’ve studied ridership patterns and noticed a surge in passengers in the middle of the day,” says Vice President of Rail Reed Lanham in a statement. “With more customers traveling at the time, we chose to adapt the schedule to meet customer demand and provide greater convenience and to accommodate commuters.”

For passengers traveling from Fort Worth T&P Station to DFW Airport Terminal B Station, the first trip will be at 4:13 am, and the 30-minute frequency will continue through the 6:43 p.m. departure.

At that point, they'll move to a night train schedule, which will be hourly. The last train will leave at 10:43 pm.

Travelers heading west from the airport will enjoy the benefits of 30-minute frequency beginning at 5:10 am and continuing through 7:40 pm. At that point, it will switch to night-time service of once-an-hour, with the last full-route train leaving DFW Airport Terminal B Station at 11:40 pm.

An additional train from the airport leaves at 12:30 am and travels to Mercantile Center Station.

“The enhanced schedule makes it easier and more convenient for Trinity Metro TEXRail riders to travel,” Lanham says. “Customers won’t need to wonder when the next train is arriving because our new schedule will be consistent and easy to use.”

Trinity Metro TEXRail, which runs between Fort Worth and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, operates on the same schedule every day throughout the year. Its nine stations are located in Fort Worth, North Richland Hills, and Grapevine.

traffic transportation

Death Penalty

Tarrant County man gets death for murder of convenience store owner

Tarrant County Sheriff's Office

Christopher Turner

A man received the death penalty for his 2020 cold-blooded execution of a convenience store owner.

According to a release from the office of Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells, a Tarrant County jury sentenced Christopher Karon Turner, 48, to death on November 20 for executing convenience store owner Anwar Ali during a robbery. Tarrant County Assistant District Attorneys Charles Boulware and Allenna Bangs represented the state.

On March 27, 2020, at around 6:15 am, Turner, a convicted felon, wore a surgical mask and a glove and entered the Super Big Country Mart in an unincorporated area of Tarrant County south of Fort Worth. There, he held a gun to the back of Anwar Ali, the 62-year-old store owner, and walked him through the store.

Ali did everything Turner demanded, including opening the cash register to give him money. And yet Turner forced Ali into the bathroom and onto his knees, and shot him in the neck. Ali was discovered, dead in the bathroom, about an hour later.

Turner fled the store in Ali's Toyota minivan with the money from the register and Ali's wallet. In the van, he found more than $50,000 cash in a black bag. Over the next few days, Turner went on a shopping spree, buying cars, jewelry, drugs, clothes, and more. He and others used cash and a credit card that belonged to Ali.

Turner fled to Colorado where U.S. Marshals arrested him. On his body they found a firearm which was determined to be the murder weapon.

"This was a premeditated, cold-blooded murder," Boulware told the jury. "From the moment he was charged with this crime, he has tried to escape responsibility."

Bangs noted that before this trial began, Turner obtained the names of jurors and their telephone numbers, and gave them to an inmate charged with murder. At the trial on November 20, as Bangs addressed the jury, Turner tried to hold up a sign to the jury but was handcuffed by Sheriff's deputies who removed him from the courtroom, while he yelled out "she lied."

Ali came to the United States from Pakistan decades ago to pursue the American dream. Ali's son, Hussein, spoke in the courtroom after the death penalty was announced. "Thank you for giving us justice," Ali said. "I hope there are no more devils like this person."