Dallas Area Rapid Transit will host two meetings Thursday to take feedback about where it should place a subway line in downtown Dallas.

The meetings will be at noon and 6:30 p.m. at DART headquarters at 1401 Pacific Ave. in Dallas. Attendees will be shown the same presentation at both meetings.

If the $1.3 billion in funding for the subway comes through, it's expected to open in 2023 at the earliest. DART wants the federal government to cover half of the cost and must propose a route as part of its funding request.

A second light rail path in downtown Dallas would break up a bottleneck there. All four light rail routes converge in the city's core and share one set of tracks, limiting the number of trips.

DART already has filed an application with the Federal Transit Administration. The original plan was to build a second light rail line downtown that was half street-level and half tunnel. But last year, the Dallas City Council asked DART to bury the line.

In October, the DART board decided to include the downtown subway, dubbed D2, in its long-term financial plan. In a controversial vote, it also added an east-west suburban line called the Cotton Belt, which would connect DFW International Airport with Plano.

DART decided to take out debt to pay for the Cotton Belt and apply for federal subsidies for D2, which upset supporters of the subway. They say the $1.1 billion suburban line will endanger the federal funding application for the subway by weakening DART's financial position.

After the vote, DART asked federal officials for a two-year extension to revise its application for the downtown project. The officials have not made a decision but have told DART to keep working on developing a route for the subway version, said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons.

The subway route will have to connect to the existing system, with Victory Station on one end and Deep Ellum on the other. Factors including geology will have to be considered, said Steve Salin, vice president of planning for DART.

"There are clearly going to be some limitations as we go through the evaluation process," he said.

DART plans to present a recommendation for the subway's path to the Dallas City Council in the summer, Salin said.