Chapter 7: Wednesday, July 18, 2017
A full day in the Dallas area included rides on light rail, the Personal Transit System in Las Colinas, and commuter rail as far north as Denton.
Chapter 7.1: Meeting in Dallas
Given the diverse hotel locations our group had chosen for themselves, it was decided to do a "rolling meet" with people boarding the same vehicle at various stations closest to their hotels, rather than taking the time to first meet at a single location. Since we would be riding the Orange Line first, we would make our ways south and west gradually. Mike and Steve took the Red Line from Richardson and then changed to the Orange Line at LBJ/Central. Ted boarded the same car at Pearl/Arts District, followed by Jishnu and me at West End, and then Grace and Alan at Market Center. That made seven of us for this outbound trip. (Chris was staying with family, and would join us later at the airport.)
Chapter 7.2: DART Orange Line, Various Dallas stations to DFW International Airport
The Orange Line, once it separates from the Green Line at Bachman, was completed in three different phases that opened in 2012 and 2014. We arrived at DFW Airport's Terminal A at 10:51 AM, right in tandem with our itinerary. At the airport, we were joined by Chris, as well as Bill Magee, who had flown in the previous night and stayed nearby at Grand Hyatt - DFW Airport. This was a scheduled rest room stop, so some went inside the airport terminal. They reported that the walk to the nearest facilities from the light rail platform was fairly long. All did, however, make it back during our scheduled 24 minute layover.
Chapter 7.3: DART Orange Line, DFW International Airport to Las Colinas Urban Center
Now up to nine folks with the addition of our newcomers, we headed back inbound on the same vehicle that had brought most of us here, departing at 11:15 AM. We rode to Los Colinas Urban Center, getting there 11:24 AM. From the light rail platform we went upstairs to a connecting passageway that brought us to the Las Colinas Area Personal Transit System.
Chapter 7.4: Las Colinas Area Personal Transit System, Tower 909 to 600 Las Colinas Blvd.
The Las Colinas Personal Transit System dates back to 1989, yet to this day it is still is not an automated system. Humans must drive the vehicles along the two tracks, which serve four stations. The vehicle drivers are summoned by pushing a button at any station. Each track handles vehicles in both directions, but there can only be one vehicle on each track at a given time. The stations are named for the buildings that they are within. While both tracks go to the current endpoint of 600 Las Colinas Blvd., the branches to Tower 900 and Urban Towers are unique. There is a track bed for a third track that would connect these two endpoints, but it was never developed. Therefore one must change trains at the system's hub at Bell Tower/Mandalay Canal to do this movement. When the system was conceived, there were plans to have it totally encircle the Las Colinas office and residential complex. However, the right-of-way envisioned for the eastern half of the people mover was usurped by the Orange Line. An extension beyond 600 Las Colinas Blvd. may someday be built, to hook up with a future station that would include an infill Orange Line station and access to a proposed commuter rail line.
Our first trip segment started at Tower 900, the station that is connected to the DART Orange Line. We left there at 11:40 AM, heading for 600 Las Colinas Blvd. We got there at 11:47 AM, and went down one set of stairs and up another (some took elevators) to access the opposite track leading to Urban Towers.
Chapter 7.5: Las Colinas Area Personal Transit System, 600 Las Colinas Blvd. to Urban Towers
Our next conveyance left 600 Las Colinas Blvd. at 11:54 AM, made its one intermediate stop, and arrived at it destination at 11:59 AM. Already in 19 minutes we had aced the entire system, but we still needed to return to where we had started. We remained on board while the driver switched ends.
Chapter 7.6: Las Colinas Area Personal Transit System, Urban Towers to Bell Tower/Mandalay Canal
We were on our way in a minute, leaving Urban Towers at 12:00 Noon. We got to the transfer point, Bell Tower/Mandalay Canal, at 12:02 PM. We had to do the same thing here that we had done previously to change tracks; we had to go downstairs and come back up on the other side. One person needed to find a rest room, so we did not push the button to summon the next vehicle until he returned.
Chapter 7.7: Las Colinas Area Personal Transit System, Bell Tower/Mandalay Canal to Tower 909
The final segment of our exploration of the people mover system left at 12:12 PM, and by 12:14 PM we bid goodbye to this unique transit system. We then headed back through the elevated walkway to the Orange Line station.
Chapter 7.8: DART Orange Line, Las Colinas Urban Center to Various Dallas stations
We had just missed an inbound train, but the next one was the trip on our itinerary anyhow. This was a rough wait in the heat and humidity, as we were out there about 20 minutes. The trip that we did take was also running a few minutes behind schedule. We departed from Las Colinas Urban Center at 12:37 PM, and enjoyed the air conditioned ride back downtown. We got to the West End station at 1:06 PM, where some from our group got off for lunch, and then Akard at 1:07 PM where the rest of us detrained.
Chapter 7.9: Lunch in Dallas
Our break for lunch was on our own, as there are numerous places to eat along the streets and in subterranean food courts located in sections of the Dallas Pedestrian Network.
Chapter 7.10: DART Green Line, Various Dallas stations to North Carrollton/Frankford
Time for us to return to the rail for our afternoon activities. After an hour for lunch, we boarded a Green Line car at the stations we at which we had gotten off the Orange Line earlier. This trip left Akard at 2:05 PM, and West End at 2:06 PM. The ride was the same up to Bachman, and then new to us as we continued north of there. We rode up to the line's northern terminus at North Carrollton/Frankford, getting there at 2:47 PM.
Although the Denton County Transit Authority A-Train is essentially a continuation of the DART Green Line beyond Carrollton, the interface between the two is not at the northernmost Green Line station, but rather at the next station south, Trinity Mills. The two run parallel between Trinity Mills and North Carrollton/Frankford, although A-Train does not stop at the latter. So we would be returning one stop inbound to Trinity Mills. We had to cross the island platform for the next departing car; however we still had a 22-minute wait for its departure.
Chapter 7.11: DART Green Line, North Carrollton/Frankford to Trinity Mills
That 22-minute wait was for a two minute ride! We left North Carrollton/Frankford at 3:09 PM, and arrived Trinity Mills at 3:11 PM. We now had 18 minutes before our A-Train departure, but luckily the train was already there waiting for us. We crossed an island platform to the A-Train and remained cool aboard its diesel multiple unit (DMU) equipment while we awaited its departure.
Chapter 7.11: DCTA A-Train, Trinity Mills to Downtown Denton
Off we went at exactly 3:29 PM, heading northbound towards Denton. We passed by the North Carrollton/Frankford station we had been to earlier. The line alternates between single and double track, and all stations up the line have two tracks with an island platform between them. There is relatively frequent service in both directions on A-Train, and they are timed so that they meet on double track sections. Interestingly, on some parts of the line, the A-trains pass right-handed, while on others they pass left-handed.
Our train arrived at Downtown Denton Transit Center on time at 4:01 PM. The nine of us remained on board the same train, enjoying the cool air for our ten minute layover.
Chapter 7.12: DCTA A-Train, Downtown Denton to Trinity Mills
We now began our southbound trek back to Dallas, first on A-Train to Trinity Mills. We left Downtown Denton Transit Center at 4:11 PM. At the Highland Village/Lewisville Lake station, Chris detrained, leaving eight of us to continue onward. Our train got to Trinity Mills two minutes ahead of schedule at 4:41 PM. Being early was significant because there was an earlier run of the Green Line than we had intended to take sitting across the platform. We were able to board it, thus there was no wait out in the sun.
Chapter 7.13: DART Green Line, Trinity Mills to West End
Our Green Line train left Trinity Mills at 4:42 PM, 14 minutes ahead of our itinerary and destined to early for our dinner reservation. When we got to the Inwood/Love Field station, Ted left us to return to his accommodations for the evening. Seven of us remained, getting to West End at 5:20 PM, 15 minutes ahead of when we had expected to get there. Our official transit rides done for the day, we then walked around the corner to partake of dinner.
Chapter 7.14: Dinner in Dallas
We had chosen a convenient but rather pricey place, Y. O. Ranch Steakhouse. It is located within the West End Historic District. We all enjoyed the food and service, ending what had been a very fruitful day of transit riding. We said goodbye to Bill, who had only joined us for one day's activities and would be flying home in the morning. He took the Orange Line back to the DFW Airport.
Chapter 7.15: End of Wednesday's activities
Wednesday was over, but we still had another busy day ahead of us! We returned to our respective hotels looking forward to Thursday.