DART's DFW Conundrum
The Star-Telegram has an interesting article about the rail lines leading out to DFW. Plans have been for DART's Orange Line (still in the planning stages) to have stations at Dallas Love Field and DFW Airport, among other stops. From Fort Worth, The T would develop the old Cotton Belt Railway which would run from southwest Fort Worth to DFW Airport. The two lines are supposed to meet at DFW and people who want to continue to another city can transfer between the lines.
Until recently, the two lines were going to meet at a station built between Terminals A and B at DFW, paid for partly by DFW Airport. But now the DART board is looking at putting the station on undeveloped land farther away from the airport. Passengers heading for DFW would then board a bus to complete their trip to the airport. Besides the inconvenience to air travelers, the change in station location would cost DART another $180 million above and beyond what they have already estimated for the Orange Line.
City of Irving officials have planned for the Orange Line to come through, investing $60 million to make sure their city gets full benefit from the train. If the route changes, plans must be reworked, some businesses may lose out. Irving would have potentially wasted much of the $60 million.
The T President Dick Ruddell is quoted in the article as saying, "two-thirds of people on that train aren’t stopping at D/FW Airport. They’re transferring between the systems." That means that one-third of people on that train are stopping at DFW. That's a lot of people to transfer to buses. Wouldn't it be easier to bring them directly to the terminals with the originally planned station? Yes, it would be more convenient and at least $180 million cheaper.
So why would anyone want to change the plans? Ostensibly, it's to build the Cotton Belt Rail Line from DFW to Plano sooner. Estimates are that with a private/public partnership, the Dallas County portion of the Cotton Belt Rail Line would start opening in 2013. Why the private/public partnership wouldn't work as well with the rail lines joining at the DFW terminals, I'm not sure. The DART board is going to decide the station location at their Jun 23 meeting.