I need to get used to the type of commute I had today on DART’s southbound Red Line, judging from the transit system’s forecast of continued rail traffic snarls for the foreseeable future.
Here’s the timeline this morning:
– 7:21 a.m. — board at Bush station
– 7:42 to 7:44 — delay after departing Lovers
– 7:45 — momentary delay near Mockingbird
– 7:49 — momentary delay approaching Cityplace
– 7:53 to 7:57 — delay in tunnel after departing Cityplace
– 8:00 to 8:01 — delay at mouth of tunnel approaching Pearl
– 8:02 — held at Pearl momentarily
– 8:08 — held West End momentarily
– 8:09 — deboard Union Station, 8 minutes late
If I wanted stop-and-go traffic I could have driven Central.
This is embarrassing for DART, having just started Green Line service with endless fanfare. But they failed to get the technical kinks out to ensure smooth passage of the trains through downtown.
I doubt that many veteran train riders are surprised. Momentary delays are not uncommon, and major stackups have occurred from time to time. I would have bet $5 that the Green Line was going to multiply the problems.
What I didn’t expect was news from DART that we should get used to it.