DFW Fictional Rail/Rapid Transit (DART Expanded + Commuter Rail)

Imagine a world where cities choose to join DART rather than want to leave; where transit in DFW is continually and heavily invested in as early as the Great Society era; where Downtown Dallas is as bustling and developed as the Chicago Loop because of this transit; where local governments see rail transit as being as valued as highways; where over half a billion people use it every year, making up over 20% of travel and commuting in the Metroplex; where the region has constructed transit oriented development along major transit corridors for decades, defying the current stereotype that DFW is one giant suburb full of strip malls and clogged highways. Dallas's Gray Line (called the Dallas MetroLink while operated by DTS) would be the first modern transit line in the city, with the city center segment dating back to the early 1970s and built in tandem with the Dallas North Tollway throughout the 70s and 80s. Commuter rail in DFW would begin at the same time, starting with the North Trinity Line between Dallas and Ft Worth in the mid 1970s. The soon-to-be expansive commuter rail network would see consistent growth well into the 2020s as well as several systemic improvements including double or triple tracking and the early implementation of positive train control. The Circle Line's opening would follow the Gray Line's extension to the Galleria in the 1980s shortly followed by the earliest branches of the city's light rail opening in the latter half of the decade. Light rail in Dallas would continue to grow in the 1990s, and Fort Worth would begin construction on its own light rail in the second half of the decade. Light rail in both cities saw several extensions in the 2000s, starting off strong with the opening of Fort Worth's Downtown Tunnel in 2000. The Yellow Line would open in phases throughout the late 2000s and much of the 2010s, with the airport station opening in tandem with the Orange Line's extension to DFW Airport in 2014. The Gameday People Mover would open at the same time as AT&T Stadium in 2009 and the Love Field People Mover would open in the 2010s shortly after the repeal of the Wright Amendment. Fort Worth's A Line would similarly open their station at a newly commercialized Meacham Airport around the same time. Dallas's BRT lines would open with the Loop 12 BRT in the mid 2010s and the Belt Line BRT in the late 2010s, receiving Silver and Bronze BRT certification respectively. The Gray Line would also reach it's northernmost terminus in Northwest Plano at the end of the decade. TexRail would open in its entirety the late 2010s and the A-Train would extend into Carrollton shortly after. At the same time, the TCR would begin operations shortly after the completion of an integrated transit hub within the Dallas high-speed rail station. The inaugural Silver Line between DFW Airport and Plano would open in 2020 with expansions near on the horizon. Both light rail systems would see extensions in the early/mid 2020s along with the inauguration of the Plano Pulse service and the extension of the Silver Line into the McKinney and Wylie Lines to their current termini. Finally, operations of the Las Colinas APT would be taken over by DART following its redevelopment into a modern people mover system, looping around Lake Carolyn and branching to the Irving Convention Center. Future projects include the modernization of DART's oldest stations, a commuter rail line to Sherman/Denison, full automation of the Circle Line, and electrification of the North Trinity Line. Local/express buses and streetcars are not shown. This is a combined map of my DART Expanded and DFW Fictional Commuter Rail maps.