Extensive work on the Silver Line, Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s newest passenger rail, is expected to take place in 2020, according to DART spokesperson Gordon Shattles. Design is about 30% complete and will be finalized before the end of the year, he added.

Construction on the line began in Richardson in November. Work on bridges, crossings and guideways is scheduled for the second quarter of this year, Shattles said. Crews will begin building the station at The University of Texas at Dallas between July and October.

To prepare for construction, crews are working to remove abandoned rail along the DART right of way from the Dallas North Tollway in Addison to west of Synergy Park Road in Richardson. Those rail components will be demolished and hauled off-site, Shattles said.

The 26-mile Silver Line will provide east-west service for suburban cities across North Dallas. It will include two stops in Richardson: one at the existing CityLine-Bush station and another at the new UT Dallas station. DART representatives and Richardson city officials ceremoniously broke ground on the line in mid-September.

At completion, the rail will stretch from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport to Plano. Trinity Metro’s TEXRail will provide a connection from the airport to downtown Fort Worth. This will provide passengers with 60 miles of transit from Fort Worth to Plano, according to DART President Gary Thomas.


“Oftentimes, people will say ‘Gary, you’ve got the longest light rail system in North America ... but it all kind of goes in and out of downtown Dallas,’” Thomas said at the Sept. 19 groundbreaking. “’When are you going to get that ... east-west route done?’ Here it is. We’re ready.”

The Silver Line’s projected opening is December 2022.