DART’s Silver Line project nearing completion

Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s (DART) Silver Line has reached 85 percent completion. The agency is planning to open the 26-mile regional rail project to passengers for revenue service between the end of 2025 and early 2026.  

Once in operation, the Silver Line will connect passengers from East Plano, Texas, to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport’s Terminal B. DART notes the project crosses seven cities—Addison, Carrollton, Coppell, Dallas, Grapevine, Plano and Richardson—across three counties and is adding 10 new transit stations to the existing DART network.   

Vehicle testing coming to new areas  

With the project covering such a large area, DART and its design-build contractor, Archer Western Herzog, separated the Silver Line into three segments during construction. Segment C, which runs between Plano and Richardson, was primarily completed in late 2024, allowing DART to begin testing vehicles in the area late last year.  

DART notes vehicle test runs are set to begin by the end of January in Segment A, which runs from DFW Airport to Carrollton, allowing DART to test the trains, track, signals and crossings to ensure a safe and reliable ride while also getting engineers comfortable with the new trip routes. 

The agency notes testing will continue later this year and connect Carrollton and Addison to Segment B, which includes the North Dallas area. According to DART, Segment B required some of the most extensive construction and the closure of Hillcrest Road in February 2024. End-to-end testing of the entire Silver Line track is scheduled to begin this summer once major construction is completed in each segment.  

Construction milestones coming for Carrollton, Plano and Richardson  

DART notes construction progress isn’t just happening in Dallas. The agency celebrated the groundbreaking of its new Equipment Maintenance Facility in October and work on the 40,000- square foot facility in Plano’s technology corridor is progressing steadily. According to DART, the facility is being constructed a few hundred feet from the Silver Line’s new Shiloh Road Station, directly behind a 20,000-square-foot office building that DART purchased to serve as the home to Silver Line’s administrative and operations team.  

The agency says Carrollton will also see big changes in the first part of 2025, with DART constructing a new elevator tower to provide passengers a seamless connection between the new Silver Line station and the Green Line’s aerial platform at the Downtown Carrollton Station. DART notes weather recently delayed the installation of the tower, but DART plans to follow through on that construction as soon as possible.   

The Denton County Transit Authority (DCTA) announced plans to extend its service to Downtown Carrollton in the future, enhancing access for Denton County riders to the city’s vibrant area and the forthcoming Silver Line. Once in place, Silver Line passengers will have transit access to Downtown Denton via DCTA’s A-train in Carrollton and Downtown Fort Worth via Trinity Metro’s TEXRail at the DFW Airport North Station in Grapevine.  

DART notes the CityLine development in Richardson will also see changes once the Silver Line is complete, as the bridge, which crosses over US-75 and spans almost a mile in length and leads the Silver Line into the development’s new station, will be getting aesthetic arches to give it a unique and vibrant look. DART anticipates adding the arches to the bridge in 2026.