Atlanta North Line extension

On 16 December 2000, the newest section of MARTA's North Line opened, including the Sandy Springs and North Springs stations. I attended the opening ceremony at North Springs (the new terminus of the North Line) and rode the first official train from it. This report is based on a posting to the newsgroup misc.transport.urban-transit on Saturday, 16 December 2000.

This extension consists of two stations (Sandy Springs and North Springs) and 1.7 miles of track. Proceeding north from the elevated station at Dunwoody, the line first runs on an elevated structure along the edge of the Perimeter Mall parking area, then dives underground to Sandy Springs, then emerges to ground level and finally becomes elevated again at North Springs.

I visited the opening ceremonies on Saturday, 16 December 2000. I actually arrived late Friday afternoon and stayed overnight so I could do some shopping Friday evening and start my MARTA expedition early Saturday morning. In fact, I managed to leave from breakfast about 7:30am. Driving around I-285 (the "Perimeter"), I exited at Peachtree-Dunwoody Road and headed north.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very cooperative on this trip. It was generally cold, cloudy, and windy, foggy in the morning, and most of the time raining to some extent. So I didn't do as much hiking around as I normally do for picture-taking.

As I crossed Abernathy Road, I could see one of the entrances to the underground Sandy Springs station, and some distance to the east, the large parking garage at the other entrance. This station is in a built-up area with shopping plazas, office parks and upscale suites-type hotels targeted at the luxury and corporate market. "Built-up" in terms of automobile-centric development, of course. There's actually a lot of open space, and it's something of a hike from the station to nearby buildings.

Continuing north on Peachtree-Dunwoody, the landscape quickly turns residential, with expensive houses and condominium developments. The North Springs station is nestled between Peachtree-Dunwoody on the east, the Georgia route 400 expressway on the west, and condos on the north and south. A new "flyover" exit ramp leads from southbound Route 400 to a large five- or six-level parking garage, and a northbound ramp leads back onto 400. These are for commuters from further north, which is now the most rapidly developing part of the Atlanta metro region. Next to the garage is a surface parking lot with an entrance from Peachtree-Dunwoody, intended mainly for "local" users. The station itself is an island platform with an arched canopy, rather like the Dunwoody station but without the red paneling.

Both new stations also have bus bays, inside the fare-paid zone as is customary in MARTA rail stations. Several bus routes have been modified to feed into the new stations.

When I arrived at North Springs it was about 8:00, and the station itself was closed, as I expected, because revenue service was to begin at noon. However, there was a train parked at the station, and I could see the beginnings of preparations for the opening ceremonies. Making a U-turn in the entrance to the parking lot, I headed back onto Peachtree-Dunwoody, and south past Sandy Springs to Dunwoody, still the northern terminus of North Line trains.

At Dunwoody, I parked in one of the two garages and entered the station. Trains were actually running to and from North Springs (in "test mode", presumably), but a half-dozen MARTA police were evicting passengers from northbound trains so no one could actually ride past Dunwoody. Figuring it would be a while before anything interesting happened, I boarded a southbound train, rode all the way to the airport at the other end of the line, took a potty break, and rode back.

By now it was about 10:00, and the northbound track at Dunwoody was occupied by one of MARTA's new trains, the first one I had seen. (Northbound trains were being shunted around to the southbound track.) When I arrived, its destination sign read TEST TRAIN, then a few minutes later switched to SPECIAL. These trains are basically rather similar to MARTA's "old" trains. The biggest differences on the outside are that the paint scheme on the ends of the cars has a black background instead of silver, and the ends are "recessed" slightly instead of being "rounded off" at the corners. Inside they have blue seats and a light-gray background instead of the old orange/beige combination. But nobody could board this train (yet) except MARTA people.

I took a few pictures, then talked to one of the MARTA police and was told that there would be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at North Springs shortly before noon. So I drove back to North Springs, and parked in the surface lot.

Now (10:30) there were more people here (mostly MARTA types), a refreshment tent, and folding chairs had been set up in front of a podium surrounded by piles of Christmas-wrapped boxes, next to the turnstiles. Thankfully (because of the wet, chilly weather), hot coffee was flowing freely at the refreshment tent.

While waiting for the ceremony to begin, I wandered around taking pictures of the station from ground level [picture #1] and from the parking deck [picture #2] [picture #3] (nice views!). Fortunately, the rain had let up briefly, so I could wander around outside with only moderate discomfort.

Then I found out that I had gotten only half the story about the opening ceremonies. First there was a ceremony at Sandy Springs, after which participants boarded a train (the SPECIAL that I had seen at Dunwoody) and rode to North Springs for another ceremony. When I returned from my explorations, the ceremonial train had arrived and people were pouring through the turnstiles into the podium area. Now some souvenir items were available, including a pocket calendar with a commemorative inscription and a newly-updated MARTA system map (rail and bus).

We all watched Part II of the ceremonies, as various MARTA people including the general manager gave short speeches [picture #4], then came the ribbon-cutting in front of the turnstiles. Finally we all went through the turnstiles (for free!) to board the first official southbound train from North Springs.

This was the SPECIAL train, now re-designated AIRPORT. Apparently this was the first time that one of the new trains was to be used in "normal" service. It still didn't have any of the usual maps or advertising posters inside, so it seemed kind of "naked." Of course I boarded the first car, after taking some pictures [picture #5] [picture #6], and found several MARTA crew and supervisors clustered around the front cab so that they could observe the performance of the new train.

Eventually, shortly after noon, we started out, slowly at first and stopping a few times every couple of hundred feet. Then we reached cruising speed, entered the short underground section and reached Sandy Springs, where many of the passengers who had come from the earlier ceremonies got off, and some "real" passengers boarded (the station now being open for business). Then we emerged onto the elevated section of track, arrived at Dunwoody, and became a regular revenue train.

Right about this time the clouds darkened again significantly, and the rain really let loose. So I was quite content to stay on the train all the way to the airport (for the second time!), then switch to the other end and ride back. About a half-dozen MARTA people stayed for the entire southbound trip, still clustered around the front cab, then straggled off at various places on the return trip. The train seemed to perform fairly well. It was quiet and very smooth when it got to cruising speed, but it was sometimes a bit jerky when accelerating.

On the return trip I got off at Sandy Springs to take a couple of pictures inside the station [picture #7]. This station is basically a huge rectangular box with support pillars running down the middle (between the tracks) and with mezzanines on both ends. The walls are lined with white tile with simple abstract decorations in either grey/brown or blue/green tile (if I remember the combinations correctly). It was *very* chilly inside the station. One of the mezzanines still had the chairs, tables, etc. from the opening ceremony.

Finally I returned to North Springs to pick up my car and do a bit more shopping before driving back to South Carolina. Because of the weather, I didn't try to do any exploring and picture-taking away from the stations. I'll save that for another trip when it's sunny and a bit warmer.

Atlanta, Georgia: Opening of the North Line extension

Atlanta, Georgia:
Opening of the North Line extension