Dallas RailDuring a trip through Dallas in 2010, I explored some of the new rail transit infrastructure there. My journey began with a rental car dropoff at DFW airport and a ride on the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) into downtown Dallas' Union Station. The TRE opened in 1996 as the first commuter rail line in the southwest, with service from Irving to Union Station. Service was expanded west to Fort Worth in 2001. The TRE provides service to DFW through the CenterPort station, which marks the junction between the Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority. Despite the appearances, using the TRE to get to or from the airport is surprisingly difficult. It's prime mission is as a commuter line (on freight rail tracks) and attempting to construct a new routing through the airport was likely considered much too expensive, if it was even considered at all. The rail line is about six miles south of DFW and getting to the station requires about 30 minutes total travel time on three separate buses: a shuttle from the rental car facility to a terminal, a bus from the terminal to the Remote South parking center, and then a bus from Remote South to the station. In addition, trains run at 90-minute intervals on weekday afternoons, adding considerable waiting time on an unenclosed platform unless you happen to be extremely lucky in your scheduling. The train itself requires about 30 minutes into downtown Dallas. While it's hard to beat the $3.50 fare, if your time is even remotely valuable, you are probably better off taking a SuperShuttle van or a taxi. Dallas Union Terminal was built in 1916 on a design by Jarvis Hunt and served as many as 80 trains per day at it's peak. For-profit passenger service terminated in 1969 and Amtrak began using the facility in 1974, when it appears to have received its last major renovation. The upper level waiting room is used as a meeting space for the Hyatt Regency Hotel, on the other side of the tracks.
I lived in the Dallas area from 1988 to 1991, but somehow had never had much of a reason to explore downtown. Alot had changed in 20 years and I had 90 minutes to occupy, so I walked around a bit.
Perhaps Downtown Dallas' most popular tourist attraction is also its most macabre. On 22 November 1963, US President John Kennedy was assassinated as he rode through a motorcade in Dealey Plaza. The plaza itself was built in 1940 as a WPA project memorializing the founding of Dallas and it was named after civic leader George Bannerman Dealey (1859 - 1946). However, it is better remembered for the death of a president than the birth of a city. Assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was stationed in the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository building. An additional assassin may have been located on the "grassy knoll" on the north side of the street. Two X's on the Elm Street pavement mark the approximate locations of the Kennedy's limousine when two of the shots hit him. Visitors wait for traffic to pass and run out into the street to have their pictures taken on those two spots. Them's my people, y'all.
DART light rail began serving Union Station in 1996, significantly increasing station usage. Auto-centric and politically conservative Dallas is an improbable place for rail transit and numerous transit initiatives were defeated during my time there. Some mysterious force has been driving a remarkable expansion of the system over the past 15 years. Having only a few minutes left, I decided to hop on the Red Line and visit my old haunts at Mockingbird Lane.
Although I didn't have time to explore the old neighborhood, it was clear just by walking to street level that the area had been completely redeveloped since I'd lived there 20 years before. The lovely old Art Deco Dr. Pepper plant had been replaced with dense condos. Progress? Certainly, but I do miss the interesting moments and people that were once there.
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