DART D2 Subway

[Hannibal Lecter]

Two injured in DART derailment in downtown Dallas

"According to a DART spokesman, a northbound Orange line train made contact with a southbound Green line train around 1:15 p.m. at St. Paul Station."

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2020/12 ... wn-dallas/

[northsouth]

My guess is that the third truck of the northbound train (between the second and third segments) somehow caught on the switch just south of the station, thus trying to take the crossover while the rest of the train stayed on the main track. It then was pulled off the track by the rest of the moving train until it sideswiped the stationary one. Looking at it in person, there was no evidence at all of an impact on the right side of the derailed train, like if it had been pushed off by a automobile collision.

[Parker Road]

https://www.dart.org/about/board/boarda ... 2jan21.pdf
Looks like they're going to rename Baylor station to Baylor/Deep Ellum after the D2 portal is constructed. Good move since the Baylor station is closer to Deep Ellum than the current Deep Ellum station anyway.

Also, IMO the best course of action after D2 is to stop running the Orange Line up the North Central Corridor and double the frequencies of Red/Blue line trains to make up for it whenever DART has the resources to do so. Otherwise the Cityplace tunnel will still constrain the outer Red, Blue, and Orange lines. Terminate the Orange Line either at Buckner, Lawnview, or the proposed Live Oak stations from DFW and run trains every 10 minutes on each line. Otherwise, the city won't be getting the full benefit of this project.

[TNWE]

Also, IMO the best course of action after D2 is to stop running the Orange Line up the North Central Corridor and double the frequencies of Red/Blue line trains to make up for it whenever DART has the resources to do so. Otherwise the Cityplace tunnel will still constrain the outer Red, Blue, and Orange lines. Terminate the Orange Line either at Buckner, Lawnview, or the proposed Live Oak stations from DFW and run trains every 10 minutes on each line. Otherwise, the city won't be getting the full benefit of this project.

The Cityplace tunnel isn't any more of a constraint than any other section of track not named the Downtown Transit Mall. The capacity North of the Pearl wye is unaffected no matter what direction the trains go when they pop out the other side of Downtown.

Right now there are 12 trains per hour (tph) peak running through the North Central tunnel - 3 lines, each at 15 minute peak headways. The transit mall itself currently handles 16 tph at peak, with lots of traffic lights and 4 stations, so there's no reason why the tunnel portion couldn't handle at least that much. DART could both retain the existing Orange line service pattern, plus add 1-2 tph each for a "magenta" and "cyan" lines that run from Parker Road/Rowlett to Cedars at peak hours only. Adding trains to run the full length of the Red or Blue lines would just mean valuable rolling stock running empty over half the route.

[Parker Road]

The Cityplace tunnel isn't any more of a constraint than any other section of track not named the Downtown Transit Mall. The capacity North of the Pearl wye is unaffected no matter what direction the trains go when they pop out the other side of Downtown.

Right now there are 12 trains per hour (tph) peak running through the North Central tunnel - 3 lines, each at 15 minute peak headways. The transit mall itself currently handles 16 tph at peak, with lots of traffic lights and 4 stations, so there's no reason why the tunnel portion couldn't handle at least that much. DART could both retain the existing Orange line service pattern, plus add 1-2 tph each for a "magenta" and "cyan" lines that run from Parker Road/Rowlett to Cedars at peak hours only. Adding trains to run the full length of the Red or Blue lines would just mean valuable rolling stock running empty over half the route.

Deinterlining the Orange Line post-D2 will allow for trains every 5 minutes or better on everything from Mockingbird to 8th/Corinth rather than just to Cityplace. Service on the Southeast corridor would be more consistent too. If necessary, in the off-peak every other train on the Red line could be run from LBJ/Central to Cedars or Westmoreland like you suggest, similar to how the Orange Line operates today.

[TNWE]

The Cityplace tunnel isn't any more of a constraint than any other section of track not named the Downtown Transit Mall. The capacity North of the Pearl wye is unaffected no matter what direction the trains go when they pop out the other side of Downtown.

Right now there are 12 trains per hour (tph) peak running through the North Central tunnel - 3 lines, each at 15 minute peak headways. The transit mall itself currently handles 16 tph at peak, with lots of traffic lights and 4 stations, so there's no reason why the tunnel portion couldn't handle at least that much. DART could both retain the existing Orange line service pattern, plus add 1-2 tph each for a "magenta" and "cyan" lines that run from Parker Road/Rowlett to Cedars at peak hours only. Adding trains to run the full length of the Red or Blue lines would just mean valuable rolling stock running empty over half the route.

Deinterlining the Orange Line post-D2 will allow for trains every 5 minutes or better on everything from Mockingbird to 8th/Corinth rather than just to Cityplace. Service on the Southeast corridor would be more consistent too. If necessary, in the off-peak every other train on the Red line could be run from LBJ/Central to Cedars or Westmoreland like you suggest, similar to how the Orange Line operates today.

I'm just not sure of the value of running additional red line frequencies south of Downtown. If anything, DART should relocate whatever infra that's in the way of a second track on the west side of the West End wye, so trains can run from South Dallas up through the medical district at least as far as Bachman. Interchanging between Red/Blue and Orange/Green is already annoying enough having to go to West End, and D2 would only make it worse by requiring a long-ish walk to Metro Center.