Dallas Airport light rail station set to open Monday

The extension of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) light rail system to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is scheduled to open on Monday. 

Officials with the agency said trains would be begin running on its Orange Line to the Dallas airport, the fourth busiest in the U.S., on Monday morning.  

“DART customers, airport workers and travelers will receive a holiday gift about five months early, when DART christens its 4.7 mile extension to DFW International Airport on Monday, August 18th,” the transit agency said. 

{mosads}“The new DFW Airport Station is located between International Parkway and the North Service Road, near Terminal A,” the DART statement continued. “Fares will remain the same, as will service frequencies, although certain departure and arrival times will change.” 

The DART Orange Line is being extended nearly fives from its existing terminal station at Belt Line Road. The extension cost about $150 million to build. 

The DART system is the largest light rail network in the U.S., in terms of route mileage. With the addition of the Dallas airport station, the system includes 90 miles of track and 61 stations. 

The system currently carries about 98,300 passengers on an average weekday, making it only the seventh busiest light rail system in the U.S.

Texas Rep. Michael Burgess (R), who represents parts of Dallas, hailed the expansion of the DART light rail system to the city’s airport. 

“North Texas has greatly benefitted from the arrival of DART, and this station will only add to the ease with which North Texans are now able to get around,” Burgess said in a video he submitted for the Dallas airport station’s opening ceremony on Monday.

“Projects like these make our area better,” Burgess continued. “They boost the economy, create jobs [and] promote growth. This project in particular should serve as an example to other areas for how to complete projects in a fiscally conservative manner.”