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The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) board recently approved a route for the final section of the Orange Line: The light-rail corridor will connect to Terminal A at DFW International Airport by December 2013.

The board made the decision following a staff recommendation to provide direct terminal access from the future Belt Line Station, which will be located on airport property. The board also voted to add a future light-rail connection from the Orange Line to the Cotton Belt corridor, a DART-owned rail line that crosses the airport property, to provide additional rail access to the airport. The agency has proposed launching passenger-rail service on the Cotton Belt line — which crosses through the northwest Dallas-Fort Worth area — by 2013.

Earlier this year, DART launched construction on the first two sections of the 14-mile Orange Line, from the future Bachman Station in northwest Dallas to Las Colinas, and then to the Belt Line Station. The sections are scheduled to open in December 2011 and 2012, respectively. DART expects to award a contract for the final section to the airport next year.