METRORail Red Line
TheRed Lineis one of threelight railroutes on theMETRORailnetwork operated byMETROinHouston,Texas.It is the oldest line in the METRORail system, with the first 7.5-mile (12.1 km) section of the line between Fannin South and UH–Downtown opening on January 1, 2004.
Construction on a 5.3-mile (8.5 km) extension to the north[5]began July 2009, and was expected to continue until 2014,[6]though the opening date was later pushed back to 2015.[7]On December 8, 2011, the FTA announced the award of a $450 million grant from the New Starts transit program to fund construction of the Red Line.[7][8]Better than expected construction progress eventually led to the new line opening ahead of schedule on December 21, 2013.[2]
Route
[edit]The approximately 12.8-mile (20.6 km)[3][9]Red Line runs through the heart of the historic North Side, a storied neighborhood rooted in rail that came into being with the expansion, in the 1880s, of the Hardy Rail Line. It largely parallelsInterstate 45.[10]
Description
[edit]Starting at Fannin South, the Red Line travels parallel to Fannin Street, crossing underI-610,until it shifts onto Greenbriar Drive. It turns onto South Braeswood Boulevard briefly before returning to Fannin Street, which it follows through theTexas Medical Center.Through the Museum District, trains travel on one-way streets: southbound trains use Fannin Street, while northbound trains move onto San Jacinto Street. The tracks rejoin just south ofI-69before merging onto Main Street, which it follows through Midtown and Downtown. Along this stretch, the line intersects with the eastboundGreen LineandPurple Lineat Rusk Street and the westbound lines at Capitol Street. The tracks eventually move onto the west side of Main Street as they approachUH–Downtownstation, the original terminus of the line, located adjacent to theUniversity of Houston–Downtowncampus.
Since 2013, the Red Line continues north, following Main Street through the Burnett Transit Center and on to Boundary Street, where it crosses east to Fulton Street, and proceeds north on Fulton through the Near Northside to its current terminus at the Northline Transit Center, located adjacent to the Northline campus of theHouston Community College.[11]
Infrastructure
[edit]As with the other METRORail lines, the Red Line is predominantly at-grade andstreet running,with paved tracks laid down themedianof Main Street in downtown, Fannin Street to the south, and Fulton Street to the north. These tracks are not physically separated from road traffic, though they are located in dedicated lanes and trains receive priority at intersections at cross-streets by means ofpreempted traffic signals.However, flashinggrade crossingsignals and gates are present where trains cross parallel traffic lanes as they move from one street to another, and along the section of the line south of Old Spanish Trail, where tracks are laid out on aright-of-wayparallel to the road rather than in the median. Two sections along the Red Line extension north of UH–Downtown, though, are located onelevated structures:the Burnett Transit Center and the tracks leading to and from it, and a grade-separated crossing of a freight line along Fulton Street south of the Northline Transit Center.
The line is fullydouble-tracked,with stations mainly consisting of a singleisland platformserving trains in both directions outside the central section along Main Street. However, the Main Street section of the line havesplit platformdesigns where platforms are located on both sides of a cross-intersection between the two tracks, each of which serve trains in one direction only, as do theside platformson parallel streets at Museum District station.
Rolling stock
[edit]Services on the Red Line are operated mainly by Metro's two generations ofSiemens S70LRVs: the H1 series delivered in 2004 for the opening of the initial section, the H2 series delivered in 2012 for the Northline extension and the H4 in 2022 for future expansions. Since 2015, H3 seriesCAF UrbosLRVs, which are mostly used on the Green and Purple Lines, can also been found on the Red Line. Trains are generally formed by two units coupled together.
Stations
[edit]The following is a list of stations for this line, listed in order from north to south.
METRORail line key
[edit]Station | Opening year |
Connections | |
---|---|---|---|
METRORail | METRO Bus | ||
Northline Transit Center/HCC | 2013 | 23, 36, 45,56,79, 96 | |
Melbourne/North Lindale | 2013 | ||
Lindale Park | 2013 | ||
Cavalcade | 2013 | 26 | |
Moody Park | 2013 | ||
Fulton/North Central | 2013 | 79 | |
Quitman/Near Northside | 2013 | 66 | |
Burnett Transit Center/Casa De Amigos | 2013 | 3,51/52,79 | |
UH–Downtown | 2004 | ||
Preston | 2004 | various routes nearby | |
Central Station(Main) | 2015 | various routes nearby | |
Main Street Square | 2004 | various routes, Greenlink | |
Bell | 2004 | various routes nearby | |
Downtown Transit Center | 2004 | 6, 11, 32, 44,51/52,54,82,85,102,108,137,160/161/162,Park & Ride lines | |
McGowen | 2004 | 54,82,283 | |
Ensemble/HCC | 2004 | 9, 261, 283 | |
Wheeler Transit Center | 2004 | 5,25,65,152/153 | |
Museum District | 2004 | 5, 56, 65, 292, 298 | |
Hermann Park/Rice University | 2004 | 56, 292, 298 | |
Memorial Hermann Hospital/Houston Zoo | 2004 | 28, 56, 292, 298 | |
Dryden/TMC | 2004 | 56, 84 | |
Texas Medical Center Transit Center | 2004 | 2,4,10, 14, 27, 28, 41, 56, 60, 68, 84, 87, 402 (Quickline), Park & Ride lines | |
Smith Lands | 2004 | 84 | |
Stadium Park/Astrodome | 2004 | 60 | |
Fannin South | 2004 | 8, 11,73,87 |
Expansion
[edit]A possibility for expansion of the line would take the route toGeorge Bush Intercontinental Airport.The 102 bus currently connects to that airport via theDowntown Transit Center.[12]
References
[edit]- ^"Executive Summary - September 2023".Houston METRO.RetrievedOctober 21,2023.
- ^ab"Metro says North rail line to open early – Houston Chronicle".chron. May 23, 2013.RetrievedMay 31,2014.
- ^ab"Houston Facts 2014"(PDF).Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas. 2014.RetrievedAugust 11,2015.
- ^http:// piersystem /posted/1068/Chapter_2_DEIS_North_Corridor_0606.123777.pdf[bare URL PDF]
- ^"METRO About Us".Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas.RetrievedAugust 11,2015.
- ^http:// myfoxhouston /dpp/news/local/100909-rail-lines-will-not-meet-oct-2013-deadline[dead link]
- ^ab"$900m awarded to extend Houston's light rail system".Rail.co. December 8, 2011. Archived fromthe originalon June 6, 2012.RetrievedDecember 9,2011.
- ^KUHF Houston Public Radio."Houston Gets Its Next Portion Of Light Rail Funding".RetrievedAugust 12,2013.
- ^"METRORail".Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas.RetrievedAugust 11,2015.
- ^"Houston · Texas".Houston · Texas.RetrievedDecember 18,2021.
- ^Houston Metro Rail."8 Stations from UH–Downtown to Northline Transit Center".RetrievedAugust 12,2013.
- ^"Metro Light Rail (Houston, Sugar Land, Galveston: 2015, university, tax) – Texas (TX) – City-Data Forum".city-data.RetrievedMay 31,2014..