The transit agency says it has ice cutters, contingency plans in place for rail and buses as winter weather closes in on metroplex.
By Sriya Reddy
With a freeze expected on Wednesday night, DART is preparing in case it has to implement its severe winter weather contingency plan, that provides for service changes including temporary suspension of some rail and bus routes.
The transit agency, which just launched a new bus network, will communicate any changes to service on its website dart.org with its Rider Alert System and on Twitter @DARTAlerts.
It aims to warn riders about 12 hours early if their rides are impacted.
Past winter storms have hobbled DART’s light-rail network as ice accumulated on lines, stopping trains from running. So DART representative Gordon Shattles said that one of the ways DART is preparing is by having ice cutters on all light rail trains. They run on top of cable lines and scrape ice as the trains move along the tracks.
Wednesday may bring freezing rain to the Dallas-Fort Worth area followed by the chance of sleet and snow into Thursday. Organizations like DART are remembering last year’s winter storm and are taking precautions this week.
“We are following the National Weather Services guidelines on this one as we see the impacts it has on the Dallas-Fort Worth area,” Shattles said.
DART’s weather contingency plan is broken down into three operating scenarios based on severity of weather. The first one reduces the frequency of trains.
When ice accumulates on the overhead cables, operating scenario two is implemented, which shuts down the rail system and relies on the bus routes.
The last operating scenario, which is what happened during last year’s winter’s storm, shuts down all the rail systems and has bus service limited to the high volume routes.
