TEXAS - Preparations for the A-train rail line - Denton County's long-awaited foray into commuter rail - finally began this week.

Workers began unloading 20-ton lengths of steel track in Lewisville and Lake Dallas along the route of the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. The 1,600-foot lengths of steel will form the backbone for the new 21-mile railway that is expected to be completed by December 2010.

"This is the first evidence that real progress is taking place," said Dee Leggett, a spokeswoman for the Denton County Transportation Authority, which is managing the project.

"We've been talking about this for so long."

The commuter line will stretch from Denton to Carrollton, where passengers can transfer to DART's Green Line and travel to Dallas. The Denton-to-Dallas commute will take about 70 minutes.

Once the quarter-mile lengths of track are unloaded, workers will begin laying the rails in Denton and Carrollton.

"The goal is to meet in the middle over Lewisville Lake," said Kimberly Durnan, public information manager for the North Texas Rail Group, which is constructing the $314 million transit project.