Pete Buttigieg, US Secretary of Transportation, announced that the US Department of Transportation’s Build America office has provided a US $ 908 million loan to the Silver Line regional rail project in Texas as part of the US Department of Transportation’s funding program. rehabilitating and improving railways at the Dallas Area Rapid Transit. This is the first financing loan for the rehabilitation and improvement of railways to close under the Biden administration. The loan is a refinancing of the RRIF loan granted to DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) for the same project by the Bureau in December 2018. This transaction is expected to save DART about US $ 190 million in interest charges according to the US Department of Transportation.

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Proceeds from the Texas Silver Line rail loan will fund a portion of the construction costs of the project, which consists of a 26-mile dual-track commuter train alignment stretching from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to the east to Shiloh Road in Plano, TX. The Silver Line rail will connect to three existing DART transit lines, contain 10 stations, and pass through three counties and seven cities. Since the current loan closed in December 2018, DART has made significant progress in the design and construction of the project. All key project contracts have been awarded, project design has progressed significantly, and construction is on time and on budget. The savings from the new loan will help close a funding gap for other projects in the future.

“The ministry’s support is helping DART realize this ambitious project which will extend service across the DART service area from the eastern outskirts to the northern suburbs and includes several infrastructure additions such as hiking and biking trails, separate level improvements and full dual tracking across the entire segment, ”said David Leininger, Interim President and CEO of DART. “The ten platforms will also stimulate development focused on public transport in a large part of the region. Reducing interest charges on the loan will also play a crucial role in restoring DART’s long-term capital development capacity, which has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.