A couple transit things

1. Tomorrow, the Dallas light rail system will officially open a new extension, and the Dallas Morning News has a nice editorial, "Transformative transit," about the impact. From the article:

A Dallas Area Rapid Transit rail stop down the street means more than just another way to get around town.

What it means is opportunity – for jobs and careers, for neighborhoods ambitious for rejuvenation, for businesses looking to expand and attract workers.

It also offers people the un-Dallas-like opportunity to wean themselves from a car-dependent lifestyle, while giving those who can't afford a car an efficient way to travel.

More parts of Dallas can begin exploring the possibilities starting Monday, when the new Green Line begins service with the opening of four stations southeast of downtown.

Rail transit service is as transformative as community leaders want to make it. Neighborhoods and City Hall must focus intensely on the opportunities after waiting 26 years for Green Line service, going back to the multi-city vote to create DART in 1983.

A host of other communities will be waiting till next year for the opening of 16 more stations on the line, from Carrollton to the northwest to Pleasant Grove in the southeast – 28 new miles in all.

A full spectrum of transportation options will then unfold. A Buckner-area resident will be able to buy one ticket and ride one train – not multiple buses – to a job downtown. A person in Farmers Branch will be able to ride one train for a doctor's appointment at Baylor University Medical Center or for a visit to the State Fair of Texas.

For the moment, though, the focus is on the four new stations and the benefits we expect them to spin off...

Note that weekend test service is going on now. See "Riders pack DART's Green Line trains during opening celebration," "Many hope DART's Green Line will help revitalize South Dallas," "For Dallas' Deep Ellum, hopes ride on DART," and "With changes in place around Dallas, DART Green Line readies for debut."

DAVID WOO/Dallas Morning News. The window of an empty storefront reflects a DART train passing through Deep Ellum. Heather Winn, who is leasing out space in the Ambrose apartment building, has lined up two retailers expecting business from a new rail station.

2. Matt Johnson has an excellent four part series in Greater Greater Washington about proposals to reroute freight railroad traffic in the Washington area, which would then free up more railroad lines for passenger railroad service:

- Washington and Baltimore's rail networks
- CSX's plans for upgrading their infrastructure
- projects for which Maryland has requested stimulus funding.
- Washington's rails, part 4: the long way 'round

For ideas about creating a regional passenger railroad system, see this past blog entry:

- A regional railroad passenger transportation vision for DC, MD, VA, WV and parts of PA (and Delaware)