Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) awarded Clean Energy Fuels Corp. a $40-million contract to design and build four new compressed natural gas (CNG) stations to support the transition of DART's fixed-route and paratransit bus fleet to 100 percent CNG power. The project will also include two building modifications for maintenance facilities.

Over the next three years, the agency plans to deploy 452 new CNG buses and 200 CNG paratransit vehicles as replacements for its current fleet of liquefied natural gas and diesel-powered models that began service in 1998.

The new Clean Energy CNG fueling stations will be located at DART's bus and paratransit maintenance facilities. The station development project is set to start in May 2011 and Clean Energy expects to complete DART's first new CNG fueling facility by April 2012.