Three transit agencies in Texas made up of Denton Transit Authority’s “A-Train”; Trinity Merro’s “TEXRail” and Capital Metro’s “Mertrorail” are already using Stadler’s FLIRT (Fast Light Intercity and Regional Train) equipment. This will increase to four when Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s “Silver Line” begins operation between DFW Airport Terminal A and Plano by 2026. Several of the Silver Line train sets have arrived from Stadler’s North American plant in Utah and on May 19th were using the TRE line for testing since the TRE does not operate on Sundays.
I headed out in the morning to catch some of the action and not knowing how far west they would go I decided to start at the Downtown Irving station. While driving I heard the train would be leaving the TRE shop in west Irving soon and run east towards Dallas first. At 11:32 am I took my first photo of the brightly colored train set pulling into Irving. The train made a brief stop in the station behind me and then headed on east. The Silver Line sets are configured the same as TEXRail with a coach and cab car on both sides of the central power car.
Now that I had eyes on the train, I could see they were testing two train sets coupled together. I heard on the radio they were making all station stops for brake and acceleration testing and would head west again shortly. I headed west about a mile to an empty parking lot along Rock Island Road next to the tracks for this coming and going away sequence at 12:07 pm.
Following the train westward, I next stopped at Gilbert Road and Rock Island Road just east of the West Irving station where I photographed the test run heading back east towards Dallas at 12:36 pm.
Now I continued on west to the new Trinity Lakes station on the east side of Fort Worth which had nice open views of the tracks. My friend Troy Minnick joined me there and we sat in the shade and visited until the next round trip arrived westbound at 1:45 pm and made a station stop before accelerating on west.
Troy and I did not have to wait long before the train sets moved back east at 2:02 pm and made the station stop.
Working the brief stop to my advantage I got into position to frame the train going away between the signals.
Troy and I liked the shade covering the station benches, so we camped out to wait the next developments. We heard on the radio the test crew was planning on probably one more trip before returning to the TRE shop in Irving. We walked to a spot about 100 feet east where we could get the train sets coming around the curve into the station. The sun was starting to get low in the west at 3:53 pm and I caught a bit of reflection in the windshield.
The train sets rolled west to Sylvania Siding and then came back east to make its last stop here at Trinity Lakes at 4:15 pm.
After an extended stop to reset some of the systems and make other program adjustments the two sets departed for the shop and Troy and I also departed for home after a well spent day more or less shooting fish in a barrel on the TRE.