Riding the Denton A-Train

[Texan Eagle]

Today I decided to check out one of the newest commuter rail lines in the country- the Denton A-Train that started operation less than a year ago, in July 2011. I did the entire run- Trinity Mills station to Downtown Denton Transit Center. The train was a 2 car Budd Rail Diesel Car that was first built over 50 years ago-

The train may be old, but the interiors have been refurbished quite nice. The seats were very comfortable-

These old trains will soon be replaced by brand new Stadler GTW trainsets. I saw as many as six of these new trains sitting in the yard. I am not sure why they ordered so many, maybe long term future planning. As of now only one train goes up and down the line during weekends and maybe two trains run on weekdays. The route has only 4 stations and out of those, only two have passing tracks. Moreover, the occupancy levels on the train are quite poor. I talked to a Sheriff officer (cop) who rides up and down the train all day ensuring every passenger has a ticket, and he said the trains do not get full even during weekday office commuter hours, so I am not sure how many trains they plan to run.

The journey is quite ordinary in terms of scenery, like any other commuter rail, the train hit a maximum speed of 65 miles/hr a couple of times. The only notable highlight is crossing the Lewisville Lake on a bridge running parallel to Interstate 35E.

The new trains sitting in the yard-

The cop takes a catnap (and an energy drink!) during the journey. I guess he needs both when he is assigned this rather monotonous duty to do all day.

 

[montgomerySutton]

I've been looking forward to riding this route when I get back home next! Sad to hear about the lack of ridership... I thought I'd read that it was doing relatively well. Disappointing.

 

[Nathanael]

Quite well is relative -- they're getting 1500 a day, which is actually more than they originally anticipated.

However, they're running 22 trips a day north and 23 trips a day south! So that averages out to only 33 people per train.

I'm a bit surprised that Denton County decided to run 45 trips per day with projected ridership even lower than that.

 

[stntylr]

I rode the A train the first day of operation. The trains were full on that day.

That day I managed to ride the TE, DART light rail, Denton A Train and the TRE. I figure I'm the first person to do all four in one day since I did it on the first day it was possible.

 

[fairviewroad]

So does the cop check everybody or just do spot-checks?

Seems like a bit of overkill (no pun intended) to have a gun-totin'

LEO ride the train all day.

 

[L'ville]

Ive been taking the A-Train since day one, twice a day, five days a week, never once has any dcta reps asked me for a valid pass. The Officer may check tickets. Dont know. Dont really care. Do appreciate the presence of a peace officer close by should the need arise.

 

[fairviewroad]

Ive been taking the A-Train since day one, twice a day, five days a week, never once has any dcta reps asked me for a valid pass. The Officer may check tickets. Dont know. Dont really care. Do appreciate the presence of a peace officer close by should the need arise.

Is suburban Texas really that dangerous? Millions of people ride the subway in NYC, Chicago, DC, etc everyday without an armed cop on board. Seems silly

to take a cop off the streets, as it were, to ride a sleepy little commuter train. Spot checks, sure. Late at night, maybe...but ALL DAY? Seriously?