History
What is now the Gold and Red Lines' shared section was originally opened on December 4, 1981, as the North-South Line between Garnett and North Avenue. [1] [2] On September 11, 1982, an infill station at Peachtree Center opened, while the North-South Line was extended south by one stop to West End station. [1] [2] On December 18 the same year, the North-South Line was extended northward to Midtown and Arts Center. [1] [2] On December 15, 1984, the Lakewood/Fort McPherson, Oakland City, and Lindbergh Center stations all opened, as did the Lenox, and Brookhaven on what was then the northernmost portion of the North-South Line (what is now the Gold Line). [1] [2] East Point station opened on August 16, 1986, followed by Chamblee (now a Gold Line station) on December 19, 1987, and the College Park and Airport on June 18, 1988. [1] [2] Finally, Doraville (later the northern terminus of the Gold Line) opened on December 29, 1992. [1] [2]
On June 8, 1996, MARTA added a new branch of the North-South Line, with stations at Buckhead, Medical Center, and Dunwoody: the first rail stations served exclusively by what is now the Red Line. [1] To distinguish the two lines, the line to Dunwoody assumed the North-South Rail Line name, [3] [4] while the line to Doraville became the Northeast-South Rail Line [5] (sometimes known as the Northeast Line for short). [3] However, both the North-South Line and the Northeast Line continued to be colored on maps in orange as a single North-South Rail Line. [3] [6]
In December 2006, the North-South Line began to be colored as red, distinguishing it from the Northeast Line, which retained the color orange. [7] Later, in October 2009, MARTA introduced a color-coded system of naming rail lines, with the North-South Line being renamed to the Red Line, and the Northeast Line being renamed to the Yellow Line, [8] [9] and then to the Gold Line. [10]
Future
On March 25, 2024, Andre Dickens, the mayor of Atlanta, announced plans for four new infill stations on the MARTA rail network, with one of them, Murphy Crossing, being a station on the Red and Gold Lines' shared section. Murphy Crossing will be on the west side of the Atlanta Beltline. [11] On April 11, Dickens announced that another one of the four proposed stations will also be shared by the Red and Gold Lines: namely, Armour Yards, located near the similarly-named Armour Yard. [12]
Operations
Now known as the Red Line, it shares trackage with its counterpart, the Gold Line, between Airport and just north of the Lindbergh Center.
On weekdays, after 8:30 pm, Red Line shuttle train service operates between North Springs and Lindbergh Center stations only until the end of the service. On Saturdays and Sundays, Red Line shuttle train service operates between North Springs and Lindbergh Center stations only from 8:50 pm until the end of the service. When major single tracking occurs, Red Line train service operates between North Springs and Lindbergh Center stations only. [13]
Line description
The Red Line runs above ground, at-grade and below ground in various portions of its route. It begins at the northern terminus, the North Springs station in Sandy Springs. The non-revenue tracks extend northward from the station. It then goes southward paralleling GA 400 (Turner McDonald Parkway) before turning southeast to Dunwoody, then turning south to cross over I-285, then west before running south in the GA 400 median. In Buckhead, it crosses under the Gold Line before joining the Gold Line, going southwest paralleling I-85. It turns south through Midtown and enters downtown Atlanta, where it meets the Blue and Green Lines at Five Points station. Leaving downtown, the Red Line continues south, paralleling Lee Street and Main Street into East Point and College Park before reaching its terminus at the Airport station.
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