Dallas — McKinney Streetcar Turntable Underway

Rail Transit Online, July 2011

Work on the long-anticipated streetcar turntable for the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA) in Uptown Dallas is advancing quickly, with completion expected in December. Currently, service is provided by MATA's fleet of double-ended restored historic trolleys, some of which are more than 100 years old. The turntable, located in a park near the CityPlace West DART station, will finally allow MATA to use its two single-ended ex-Toronto PCCs, which have lain in storage for years at DART's LRT yard. Funding for their restoration must still be raised.

"I think it's going to be tremendous," John Landrum, MATA's Chief Operating Officer, told WFAA-TV News. "I think it will become iconic for the area, much like San Francisco." The five turntables on San Francisco's cable car system are believed to be the only other such reversing devices still in use by a North American transit system.

The $668,000 project, planning for which started more than a decade ago, is part of MATA's expansion that includes an extension looping through downtown. The turntable will provide more operational flexibility, allowing more frequent service which in turn should increase ridership. The turntable is being created from a surplus Southern Pacific Railroad bridge that once crossed the long-abandoned Texas Electric Railway interurban line.

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