Yes Virginia, Dallas DOES have a subway

Just after leaving Mockingbird station, a DART rail car races through a tunnel into Cityplace station. Courtesy www.subways.net

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• subway
• DART
• rail
• tunnel
• Dallas

[dwdwone]

DIdn't say it was heavy rail, just that it was a subway. Were you expecting maybe, subway lite?

[dwdwone]

Dallas is also doing alignment plans on D2, a downtown subway. The extent of the underground section is yet to be seen. Its been agreed that the railway will go underground at Wodall and Lamar to a stop called Metro Center in the West End. From there, the line will continue south towards Young Street. Plans at that point are unclear but a route and grade will be decided by this fall.

[toddmaddox]

stylistec at least the train out there actually goes faster than 30mph, and doesn't have a stop at an average of 1/2 mile apartment. You guys are 15 years ahead of us here in Houston, we can't gte anyhting built here to saveour lives, 7.5 miles isn't going to cut it. We have a whole network of pederstrian tunnels under downtown houston, roughly a little over 6 miles combined, but the keep insisting they can't build a subway here.

[dwdwone]

I got to ride the light rail in Houston severasl months ago. Yes, it was short but they had to build it in spite of every politician in Harris County trying to stop them. I give them points for having the cohones to defy the politicos. And it wont be 7.5 miles for long. Line 2 is under construction and five more are going to be built over the next five years. Sure, they should have built a subway. Houston is the 4th largest city in the country. But it is also Texas, so they built roads instead.

[dwdwone]

I think the DART board finally figured that out. Plus with all the new lines converging in downtown, the existing infrastructure can't handle it. Their future plans include a downtown subway, but that's after they finish up with Carrollton, un-Pleasant Grove and DFW airport.

[jalfredl]

@dwdwone

Even though I absolutely hate light rails, it's kinda nice to see that Dallas has something other than cars and buses. Hopefully in the future, Dallas would replace these light rails with fast heavy rails. A city with over 6 million in its metro deserves better.

[denny906]

It's light rail not a heavy rail subway.

[dsindc]

@dwdwone Finally, it is just plain impossible for either cities to have a real subway. Underground lines cost around 100 million per mile. That would limit the system so severely that it would be very small - perhaps 50 miles. But then, Texans have given the world all the republicans it can stand- and we all know where they stand on public transport. Metro in D.C. carries about 750,000 per day (trains only), DART transports less than 10% of that. In a sense, Dallas is getting what it deserves.

[dsindc]

@dwdwone or I should say what you refer to is the CMSA (consolidated metropolitan statistical area). E.G. the Dallas CMSA actually means Dallas, and Ft. Worth. Or Houston and far flung cities, Pasedena, Galveston. The Washington-Baltimore CMSA has around 8.5 million. Like DFW, we share an airport, and there really is no open space between the two (really even heavier density in Wash-Balt). The rankings are, NYC, LA, Chi, Wash- Balt, SF, Philly). Texas has nothing in the top 5.

[dsindc]

@dwdwone I lived in Dallas when the original bond referendum that would have given Dallas a type of 'heavy rail'. I voted yes, but it didn't matter. It failed. I have lived in Washington where we have a real subway. Neither Dallas nor Houston have the population density to make heavy rail work. Both cities are way too sprawling. By the way, when Texans make the assertion that Dallas or Houston are "4th largest cities" I have to laugh. What you mean is (cont)

[Gamarabi]

They need to stop with the at grade train lines. How can a developer build truly high density areas when they have to be concerned about the safety of at grade crossings? Subway, trenched, or elevated lines from now on Dallas!

[Trance1972]

That's cool. I lived in Dallas all my life and didn't even know we had a subway

[StylistecS]

@railroadjj actually the TRE is commuter rail, not heavy rail. The Cotton Belt will also be commuter rail. It's mostly diesel. There is a difference though but many people make that mistake.

[railroadjj]

Dallas already has the heavily rail on the said of the TRE. they are supost to build what going to be called the cotton belt express on the north side linking Plano to DFW.