An emergency transit drill at Fort Worth Central Station is planned for April 15. Here’s everything you need to know.
Commuters, you might want to make a note in your calendars for April 15. Trinity Metro announced that it will be running a full-scale emergency drill that day at Fort Worth Central Station (located at 1001 Jones Street) to help prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Fire, police, and medical crews will all be participating in partnership with Trinity Metro, the City of Fort Worth, Amtrak, TEXRail, Trinity Railway Express, and several others. A flurry of activity will take place during the drill, including controlled street and transit disruptions and planned evacuations. The announcement has been made several weeks in advance to ensure that residents, workers, and commuters know to not panic when they see around 20-30 emergency vehicles at the station.
If you plan to be in the area on April 15, you’re encouraged to follow specific instructions given to you by those operating the drill to ensure your safety and that everything runs as smoothly as possible. You should also be prepared to check your regular route that day for service interruptions and alternative plans. Trinity Metro’s newsroom will provide advisories and schedule changes here. It may be a good time to Uber, take a taxi, or call a friend to make sure you can get where you need to be that day if you don’t want to have to worry about mapping out an entirely different route.
Brad Beason, who serves as a board member for Trinity Metro, said this specific drill is being held to help police, fire, and medical personnel better understand how to treat injuries, preserve evidence, and move large crowds with ease and speed in the event of an emergency. A separate test will take place a few weeks prior on April 2 to ensure local warning systems across the state are fully operational. For further information on what the Texas Division of Emergency Management is planning for April 2, please click here.
Actors and emergency personnel will partake in the exercise
According to Brad Beason, “There’s a bunch of actors and everybody coming in” for the full-scale emergency drill at Fort Worth Central Station on April 15. Along with shoring up local protocols, the exercise will also satisfy federal preparedness standards as outlined by FEMA, which must be completed as part of a two-year preparation requirement. Beason noted that the drill itself will involve a fake scenario in which an improvised explosive device (IED) is deployed via transportation. He said it was “just to be ready for that scenario if it ever comes up.”
Dallas’s Victory Station and Fort Worth’s Central Stations are set to serve as transportation hubs for visitors, residents, and commuters during the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup. Once the games begin, TRE will operate on enhanced timetables with trains being scheduled every 30 minutes or so during match days.
