Dallas l DART Light Rail Expansion Updates

[jtk1519]

DART Tests Orange Line
Orange Line gets first of many test runs
By Christine Lee | Monday, Apr 9, 2012 | Updated 6:38 PM CDT

Dallas Area Rapid Transit's Orange Line had its first test run Monday.

The test started at the Bachman Station in Dallas and ended at the Convention Center Station in Irving.

The train cars were filled with people who worked on the project during the past 10-plus years.

"This is kind of that first piece where you can really see all the fruits of your labor," said Gary Thomas, DART president.

Irving Mayor Pro-Tem Rick Stopfer, one of those who worked on the project during the entire project, got a chance to ride the train and take in the view of Las Colinas.

"To actually see it come out of the ground and to actually see the vehicle move through your community, it's very heartwarming," he said.

Monday's run was the first of several tests, traveling up to 5 mph but mostly at a walking pace. It also stopped quite often.

...

http://www.nbcdfw.com/traffic/transi...146724805.html

[Nexis4Jersey]

Has a Tornado ever struck and damaged the DART system?

[electricron]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Has a Tornado ever struck and damaged the DART system?

Not the light rail system that I'm aware of. But I wouldn't be surprised to learn that a few buses may have been hit and tossed around by one.

[jtk1519]

Work begins on long-awaited McKinney Avenue trolley line extension
By DAVID FLICK Staff Writer dflick@dallasnews.com
Published: 15 April 2012 11:57 PM

Crews broke pavement this month in Uptown on the long-awaited extension of the McKinney Avenue trolley system — an ambitious project that could fundamentally change the popular streetcar line.

“This is a game changer for us,” said Phil Cobb, chairman of the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority. “We’re not just a little Uptown amusement ride anymore; we’re coming into downtown.”

The Olive Street project is one of two projects by the transit authority that when completed next year will allow streetcars to loop through the northeastern end of downtown.

The loop, funded with $5 million in federal money, adds about a mile to the existing 2.8-mile route.

It will link the DART station near West Village at the northern end of Uptown to the Pearl Street station on the eastern end of downtown. Cobb said the route will make the trolley system — originally built as a novelty to attract visitors to the bars and restaurants along McKinney Avenue — more attractive to commuters.

...

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/trans...ion=reregister

[electricron]

Originally Posted by jtk1519

Work begins on long-awaited McKinney Avenue trolley line extension

Here's a youtube video of similar PCC cars in use in Toronto back in 1991.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDBM0EzCUiM
• Video Link
Note the 3 seats per row (2-1) arrangement, and the two double wide doors only on the right side of the car. I'm not sure how that might effect MATA's left lane curb operations in the few locations that occurs. I suppose pedestrian islands could be used for safer left lane curb operations, or they could just be extra careful like in center lane operations.
MATA bought two ex-Toronto PCCs, #4613 and #4614. The total cost for the two PCCs, including transportation, was about $15,000.00 — a bargain considering that each of our restored streetcars cost us about $150,000 to $200,000. The Toronto PCC era ended on December 8, 1995, when the last such cars ran. These PCCs were built in 1951 and extensively rebuilt by the TTC in the early 1990s, making them the equivalent of almost brand-new streetcars. Both arrived in Dallas in May 1996. In December 2011, 4614 was moved to the car barn for restoration.
Also, the ex-Toronto PCCs have the wrong gauge trucks at 4 ft 10 7⁄8 in (1495 mm) and needed standard gauge trucks at 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1435 mm). In 2002, when the Tandy subway closed, MATA bought two sets of standard gauge PCC trucks from them. MATA painted the trucks and put them under the Toronto cars, allowing allowing them to be moved into covered storage.

MATA has had these PCCs around for over 15 years waiting upon the downtown loop to be finished before placing them into service. #4613 should enter the shop for rework after work on #4614 is completed.

[jtk1519]

Pic of the MATA Olive St. streetcar extension from C. Troy Mathis...


https://twitter.com/#!/CTroyMathis/s...43554839781377

[jtk1519]

Couple of video updates. The first shows the testing of the Blue line extension to Rowlett and the second shows more of the Orange line progress.

• Video Link

• Video Link

[jtk1519]

Some pics of the M-Line's Olive St. loop extension from C Troy Mathis...





http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctroymathis/

[jtk1519]

The first phase of the Orange line... University of Dallas station, Las Colinas Urban Center Station and Irving Convention Center Station... opens July 30th.

• Video Link

[jtk1519]

Construction of the MATA streetcar extension (looking towards Uptown) running through Klyde Warren Park over the Woodall Rodgers freeway...


http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/2...f-things.html/

[dfwcr8tive]

DART's Orange line opened to Irving/Las Colinas today. The next extension to DFW Airport property opens in December, followed by direct rail service to the airport's terminals in 2014.

http://www.nbcdfw.co...-164247146.html

University of Dallas Station:



Las Colinas Urban Center Station:



Irving Convention Center Station:



From DART Image Library: http://www.dart.org/newsroom/imagelibrary.asp

[jtk1519]

The first phase of the Orange line opened today. It's not much, just three stations opened with the rest scheduled to open in December.

Two of the three stations weren't busy because there was no reason for them to be. The University of Dallas station serves just the campus and that wont see significant ridership until the fall. The station is in kind of an awkward location in that it is sunken below ground and wedged right up against Hwy. 114 with the bus transfer station up at ground level. Initially I thought this station would suck because of it's design but after trying it I think it works fine. There is a very large sidewalk along Tom Braniff Rd. so it's quite easy and quick to get from the station to the university. There is plenty of room for development on the Northern side of 114 which will benefit the station.

The Irving Convention Center Station (currently the Orange line terminus) wasn't busy either because it was early and nothing going on at the convention center at that time and this is a brand new area with only the convention center near by. This is another station location that is positioned for future development. It sits a couple hundred feet from the convention center. There's a good size (and growing) residential area just across Northwest Hwy. from the station which is within easy walking distance but this is an area that will build out in the coming years.

I saved the middle station (Las Colinas Urban Center Station) for last because it was the busiest and will be until the other stations start to open up. I loved the location of this station and all that is around it, but like the rest of Las Colinas, this area is primed for further development, especially along Lake Carolyn where this is already some new projects u/c. For now though, this station has a fair amount of urban residential buildings surrounding it as well as some office buildings and it is of course connected to the Las Colinas people mover.

Now for the pics...



University of Dallas Station













Las Colinas Urban Center Station



















Irving Convention Center Station

[Nexis4Jersey]

When is DART getting new LRVs?

[dfwcr8tive]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

When is DART getting new LRVs?

No plans or need for them anytime soon. All of the older vehicles were retrofitted in 2008 and extended to become longer SLRVs; new vehicles joined the fleet during the latest expansion (for a total of 163 vehicles).

http://www.dart.org/factsheet/slrv/default.asp

[electricron]

Originally Posted by dfwcr8tive

No plans or need for them anytime soon. All of the older vehicles were retrofitted in 2008 and extended to become longer SLRVs; new vehicles joined the fleet during the latest expansion (for a total of 163 vehicles).

http://www.dart.org/factsheet/slrv/default.asp

Whole-heartly agree. No transit agency can afford to replace light rail vehicles with less than 20 years of service. These vehicles were designed and built to provide 40 to 50 years of service. DART had 115 LRVs before buying 48 brand new SLRVs, and refurbished all of the existing 115 into SLRVs too.
They did a study, and refurbishing the existing vehicles by adding the "C" section saved DART around $150 Million. A new SLRV costs around $5 Million each, the "C" section around $1 Million each, and a new LRV around $4 Million each. So DART spent $115 Million refurbishing the existing LRVs, and spent another $240 Million for 48 brand new SLRVs, approximately a total of $355 Million on trains.
DART could have made the decision not to refurbisned old trains into SLRVs, nor buy new SLRVs, they could have decided to buy a new modern design Kinkisharyo LRV instead. Using a rule of thumb that two "C"sections is the equivalent of one LRV as far as capacity is concerned, the math comes out as follows to reach the same passenger capacity.
115 + 48 (C Sections)/2 = 81.5 LRVs.
81.5 LRVs + 48 LRVs = 129.5 LRVs.
129.5 LRVs x $4 Million = $518 Million.
$518 Million - $355 Million = $163 Million.
Not only did DART save lots of money, all their trains are now identical, using the same parts, procedures, training, etc; and can be used on every line. Not every LRV can be lengthened into a SLRV by just adding a "C" section like DART's Kinkisharyo trains. The propulsion motors were oversized to begin with, so while the additional weight slowed acceleration, the result was still well within operational parameters. They added a new unpowered truck, but gave it the same brakes as on the other axels, therefore the new longer trains have the same braking capacity as before. The only additional load to the system was the additional hotel power consumed, lights, air conditioning, automatic doors, etc. by every train, and these additional hotel equipment were placed on the "C" Sections. So very little changes had to be made to the existing LRVs to add the "C" Sections, just the "C" Sections and the additional trucks.

[jtk1519]

As streetcar line construction rolls toward start date, the latest plans for the Houston and Jefferson bridges
By Robert Wilonsky
rwilonsky@dallasnews.com
1:42 pm on August 24, 2012

Several friends of the show have been asking when the city’s expecting to close down the Houston Street Bridge to make room for the downtown-to-Oak Cliff starter streetcar line. According to local transpo officials with whom I spoke yesterday, January’s the hoped-for start date. But per city of Dallas transportation planner Keith Manoy, who’s overseeing the project, that’s still up in the air.

“The design-build contract is in negotiations for Houston,” he writes via email. “I expect that to be completed within the next month. At that time I will have a good estimate on when we will need to close Houston. I suspect it will be early 2013. I’ll be able to give you a better answer next month.”

Oh, and in case you missed it: Before construction can even begin, the city will need to spend $12.2 million in 2012 bond money to make “necessary repairs to the bridge” and “structurally stabilize [the] bridge to support streetcar system.” Those fix-its will be done as soon as the bridge is closed; when they’re done, that’s when the streetcar goes in.

...


One of the could-be, would-be streetcars as it was test-driven through downtown last year (Rex C. Curry/Special contributor)


How the streetcars will interact with vehicular traffic on Houston, per a 2011 doc(Via.)

http://transportationblog.dallasnews...-bridges.html/

[eleven=11]

What are they building at the old cowboys staduim?

I ask because its next to the univ train station.....

[electricron]

Originally Posted by eleven=11

What are they building at the old cowboys staduim? I ask because its next to the univ train station.....

Several TODs have been proposed, not sure which one will be built. Additionally, whenever the TOD does get built, DART can build another station there. The Orange line was built to accommodate another station there.

[jtk1519]

Dallas Area Rapid Transit has settled on a streetcar provider and the firms that will design and build the project
By Robert Wilonsky
rwilonsky@dallasnews.com
11:02 am on September 10, 2012

When last we asked about the downtown-to-Oak Cliff streetcar project, scheduled to close the Houston Street Bridge sooner than later for construction, we were told there was a shortlist of would-be providers, and that the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board was this close to settling on a manufacturer. At last, we have a would-be winner: Brookville Equipment Corporation out of Brookville, PA, which DART’s Committee-of-the-Whole is scheduled to okee-doke tomorrow before the full board gives its final stamp of approval later this month.

As you’ll see below in the PowerPoint prepped for the August 28 rail committee meeting, there were three companies that bid on the project: Brookville Equipment Corporation, Inekon and CAF, with the 94-year-old Brookville coming up the winner by offering to build two streetcars for $9,422,837 (give or take a “5-percent supplemental work contingence”). Others were interested, but balked in part because of the small size of the order: two cars.

As you’ll note, Brookville only makes one modern streetcar, the Liberty, which is what Brookville proposed to Dallas, says Joel McNeil, who heads up the company’s sales division. He’s not prepared to delve into further specifics — “because it’s not official and the board still needs to vote on it” — but he does answer a few, ya know, general questions about the streetcar itself. Such as:

“The cars are customized to a city’s needs, so a seating capacity can be altered on how they want to lay out the seats,” he says when asked about seating capacity. “A typical 66-foot-long car has between 41 and 47 seated passengers depending on how the customer specifies it, then you have a capacity of between 120 and 130 standing.”

And, no, it won’t be green. “We build a vehicle for what the customer wants, so they get to pick the exterior color, the interior layout, the color scheme. It’s all dependent on how the city wants to handle it.” One car is due in May 2014; the second, by September 2014.

...

http://transportationblog.dallasnews...-project.html/

[Busy Bee]

This will be Brookville first modern sttreetcar for the US, err, any market. It will be interesting to see how the end product looks and functions vis a vis the other US maker, United Streetcar.