DALLAS Area Rapid Transit (Dart) opened the 42km Silver Line, which connects Plano with Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFW), on October 25.
Passengers were offered free travel on the entire Dart network on the opening day, and the Silver Line will continue to be free of charge until November 8.
The Silver Line has 10 stations in North Texas with interchanges with the Red and Orange light rail lines in Plano, the Green Line at Downtown Carrollton, and the Orange Line again and TEX Rail at DFW. This means DFW now has rail services to the centre of Dallas, Plano and Fort Worth.
The Silver Line operates from 04.00 until 01.00 daily at 30-minute intervals during weekday peak hours and at 60-minute headways off-peak and at weekends.
Services are operated by a fleet of eight Stadler Flirt DMUs. The trains have seats for 230 passengers and standing room for 100. They comply with the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Tier 4 emissions standards.
The project involved upgrading the Cotton Belt freight line and building new stations. A $US 783m design-build contract was awarded in 2018 to a joint venture of Archer Western Construction and Herzog Contracting. Construction started in 2019, and the project was originally expected to be completed in 2024.
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