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The DART Red Line, which goes from Westmoreland in Southwest Oak Cliff to Plano, through downtown Dallas, follows most of the right of way of the former Santa Fe line that ran from Dallas to Cleburne.  It follows the Santa Fe from Westmoreland to near downtown.  In fact, when crossing the Trinity River, you can see the old Santa Fe trestle.The portion of the Red Line that runs from downtown Dallas to Plano goes through downtown and then dives into a tunnel under Central Expressway until it gets to Mockingbird Station where it returns to the surface.  It then parallels Central Expressway to a point just north of Walnut Hill Lane, where it goes over to the old Southern Pacific right of way that ran from East Dallas to Sherman.The Blue Line follows the route of the old Missouri Kansas Texas right of way from Mockingbird Lane to Garland.  It uses the same tracks as the Red Line to get from downtown to Mockingbird Lane, where the Red and Blue lines split.Interestingly, the original DART plan was to have the Red and Blue lines run northeast from downtown Dallas on the MKT right of way, which passes through Highland Park, to Mockingbird Lane.  The original plan did not include the very expensive tunnel under Central Expressway, but the good folks in upscale Highland Park did not want any light rail trains running near their swanky digs.  Oh, it was a different matter during the days of the streamliners when the Texas Special, amongst others, stopped at the MKT station in Highland Park.  Rich people don't use light rail or any other form of public transit, but they sure liked the idea of having the streamliner stop in their backyard when traveling by Pullman was the best way for ladies and gentlemen to go.The new Orange Line to Carrolton will follow the old Union Pacific right of way that runs from just north of Victory Station to Denton.  It may have belonged to another railroad before merging with the UP, but if so I cannot remember who had it.Dallas has made good use of abandoned railroad rights of way to build the light rail system.  In fact, it would not have been practicable to build it if the heavy rail rights of way had not been available.  It would have cost too much to build the system from scratch.Using former railroad rights of way to build transportation infrastructure is nothing new in Dallas.  The Dallas North Tollway was built on the former Cotton Belt line that ran from Addison to downtown Dallas.The Trinity Railway Express runs on the old Rock Island line from the North Tower in Dallas to Fort Worth.  I believe the Rock Island owned the line from the North Tower junction to Fort Worth.  I think the Frisco had rights over it from the unction to South Irving, where the line splits and heads north toward Oklahoma.  It is not part of the BNSF.
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