International Railway Journal - October 2008 - (Page 43) North America Dart takes light rail to the people In just 12 years Dallas has developed one of the most successful light rail systems in the United States, and has ambitious plans for expansion. Gary Thomas, president of Dallas Area Rapid Transit (Dart), and vice chair, light rail, of the American Public Transportation Association (Apta) talks to Keith Barrow about the challenges of increasing passenger numbers, rising costs, and new lines. I operators has increased 18.9% since N 1983 the citizens of Dallas, Texas, 2004. The double-whammy of rising voted in favour of a 1% sales tax that demand and rising costs is forcing light would allow the city to create a rail operators across the United States modern public transport system. to make tough decisions. In August, Twenty-five years on, the decision to Sacramento Regional Transit decided to establish Dallas Area Rapid Transit increase bus and light rail fares instead (Dart) looks an increasingly astute one. of cutting back services at a time of The average Dallas car commuter now rising traffic. “When demand goes up, spends around 60 hours a year in the first thing you want to do is add gridlock, a seven hour increase since more services, but the additional 2004 and a 24-hour increase over the revenue will only pay a small previous decade. And the cost of sitting percentage of the cost of operating in traffic is rising rapidly too - oil prices them, so you have to make difficult hit $US 139 a barrel in June, which has choices,” says Thomas. “Dart has made translated into petrol prices of more internal efficiencies to offset higher than $US 4 per gallon. energy costs and avoid fare increases, Upon its inception in 1983, Dart and we won’t raise fares in 2009, but we quickly instigated a network of frequent may need to do something in the longer bus services and since 1996 it has term.” operated and expanded one of the most The Dart light rail network is set to successful light rail networks in North double in size to 145km by 2013. At the America. Passenger numbers have exceeded all projections, driven Dart has been breaking by a rolling programme of new ridership records on an line construction and, more almost monthly basis. recently, the spiralling cost of fuel. In July, Dart light rail carried nearly 70,500 passengers, up 13.8% over July 2007 and setting a ridership record for the third consecutive month. Dart’s entire fleet of 115 LRVs is being lengthened at the rate of one per week. This $US 190 million project involves inserting a 10m low-floor section into the centre of each vehicle, providing access for passengers with disabilities, and increasing capacity from 75 seated passengers to 100. Platforms are also being lowered to allow step-free access. While passenger numbers are increasing, so too are energy costs. According to Apta, the price paid per kW/h for electricity by US light rail heart of Dart’s expansion plan is the 45km Green Line, which will link North Carrollton/Frankford in the north with Buckner in the south. At $US 1.8 billion, the Green Line is North America’s largest light rail construction project. Construction began in summer 2006 with the aid of a $US 700 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration. The first 4.3km section from Pearl in Dallas city centre to MLK will open next September, when regular operation will also begin on the Pearl Victory section, which has been used only for special events since it was built in 2004. The remaining 40.2km of the line will open in December 2010. The Green Line is part of a rolling programme of light rail construction that will see regular additions to the network. From 2011 the Orange Line will run west from a junction with the IRJ October 2008 43
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