page_title: DART Light Rail
section_title: Starter system
hierarchical_section_title: DART Light Rail / History / Starter system
caption_attribution_description: The platforms at Hampton Station, a station on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit's Red Line in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas (USA).
context_page_description: DART Light Rail, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Light Rail, is a light rail system in Dallas, Texas, and its suburbs owned and operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit. The system comprises 93 miles among its four lines—the Red Line, the Blue Line, the Green Line, and the Orange Line. It is the longest light rail system in the United States. As of the fourth quarter of 2017, the system has an average weekday ridership of 98,700, making it the largest light rail system in the Southern United States by ridership, and the sixth largest in the United States by ridership. The system uses 163 light rail trains manufactured by Kinki Sharyo, with all trains being converted to "Super" LRVs which feature level boarding and higher passenger capacity.
  As of August 2020, the following lines are active:
  Red Line
  Blue Line
  Green Line
  Orange Line
context_section_description: After years of scandals involving finances, delays in construction of the rail system, a failed bond election, and nine pull-out votes (two of which were successful), October 1990 was a turning point for the agency when DART first broke ground on its light rail system. In June 1996, the light rail system began service on time and on budget inaugurating the first light rail system in Texas and the Southwest. Commuter rail service to Irving began in December, after some delays.
  To the surprise of critics, the new light rail system was embraced by Dallasites, with ridership exceeding expectations.  The suburbs' confidence in DART was also expressed at the ballot box: four cities held highly publicized pullout elections in 1996 (with the financial assistance of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones who wanted DART's half-cent sales tax revenue for Texas Stadium in Irving, the Cowboys' home at the time), but all four voted to remain in DART (three of them by margins of more than two-to-one).
  The 20 miles (32 km) starter system opened on June 14, 1996, comprising the Red Line from the Westmoreland Road in West Oak Cliff through downtown Dallas to Pearl Street, and the Blue Line from Pearl Street to Morrell Station and Illinois Avenue.
  The next stage of the starter line opened on January 10, 1997 when the Red Line was extended from Pearl Station to Park Lane Station. It includes the tunnel from Pearl Street to Mockingbird Lane, the latter being the site of Dallas's first modern transit village. The northern terminus of the Blue Line remained Pearl Station at that time.
  The starter line was completed when the Blue Line was extended from Illinois Station to Ledbetter Drive. This came on May 31, 1997, nearly one year after the first part of the starter system opened.
  The final change to the starter system came on December 18, 2000 when DART opened Cityplace Station (now called Cityplace/Uptown Station), the first subway station in the Southwest, in the tunnel between Pearl and Mockingbird Lane under the Tower at Cityplace skyscraper, providing access to the Tower as well as Cityplace West. It was the system's first in-fill stop.
  Commuter rail on the old Rock Island right-of-way began during the series of openings of the light rail starter system. On December 30, 1996 the Trinity Railway Express opened the first segment as the South Irving Transit Center was connected to Union Station in downtown Dallas with a stop in the middle at Medical/Market Center Station. The agency had to lease rail cars due to a delay in the current stock until that March.
caption: Passengers waiting at the Hampton Station.
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