Arrival of rail for DART’s Silver Line keeps project on track

The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) received long portions of steel rails July 10 along the Silver Line, serving as a sign that construction on DART’s $2 billion project is underway.

Manufactured by Steel Dynamics, Inc., (SDI) in Columbia City, Ind., the rail traveled 1,100 miles to its new home in North Texas by special train.

The rails arrived at a spot between Marsh Lane and Midway Road as part of an overall shipment of 50 rail segments, each spanning about 1,600 feet long, or slightly longer than five football fields.

Preparation for the entire 26-mile Silver Line has been underway since early 2019 to link Plano to DFW Airport, with the anticipated completion of 2022.

The corridor traverses Grapevine, Coppell, Dallas, Carrollton, Addison, Richardson and Plano, where workers have been surveying, staking, identifying and relocating utilities, doing geotechnical investigations, acquiring soil samples, preparing design work and coordinating with cities on Quiet Zones and Hike & Bike Trails.

The new line will provide DART passenger rail connections and service in the northern part of the service area, improve mobility, accessibility and system linkages to major employment, population and activity centers, and interface with DART's three light-rail lines—the Red/Orange Lines in Richardson/Plano, the Green Line in Carrollton and the Orange Line at Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Airport. At DFW Airport, customers will connect to Trinity Metro's TEXRail Regional Rail Line to Fort Worth.

The Silver Line Project along the Cotton Belt Corridor has been included in various DART and North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) planning documents since 1983. DART purchased 52 miles of the Cotton Belt Corridor in 1990 to preserve for future regional rail service the stretch from Wylie, Texas to north Fort Worth.