Check out more photos from the Green Line tour in this photo set.
With less than two weeks until Green Line trains haul their first paying passengers, DART's kicked its countdown into high gear this week, making scheduled runs along three new miles of track runs from Fair Park to Victory Park on Monday, and earlier this morning, DART invited Unfair Park along for a ride.
From the Martin Luther King, Jr. Station to Deep Ellum and back, with stops at Fair Park and Baylor University Medical Center in between, we were treated to the company of DART officials, Friends of Fair Park, and the folks behind the new "Traveling Man" sculptures in Deep Ellum.
Regular Green Line service kicks off September 14, but DART's planning a grand inaugural train ride from Victory Station to Fair Park on September 11 and a "Super Saturday" of fun and games at each of the four new stations.
DART spokesman Morgan Lyons said the first day of Green Line test runs has gone smoothly enough, with the additional trains averting a downtown bottleneck by cutting their travel time through downtown from seven minutes to six.
Each of the four stops had accent pieces in place to fit a
station-specific theme. At the MLK Jr., Station, artist Steve Teeters's
"Talking Drums" installation flanked one entry to the station, with two
steel towers Teeters told Unfair Park are reminiscent of West African
musical instruments. Fair Park's new station has art deco-style columns
and gold lettering meant to match the rest of the park, while Baylor's
station includes carvings of hands and an EKG readout.
At the
end of this morning's tour, "Traveling Man" artists Brad Oldham and
Brandon Oldenburg got their first look at their installation through
the windows of a train as we rolled into Deep Ellum.
Update: We've got more photos in this slide show, and we'll have a quick video from the tour tomorrow.
