Presbyterian College > Academic Web Server > Jon Bell > Transit > (Cities | Types) > Houston

Houston, Texas: METRORail Light Rail

Description

Houston's first light rail line, the METRORail Red Line, began operation on 1 January 2004. It is 7.5 miles (12.0 km) long and runs from downtown Houston southward to the Texas Medical Center and the Reliant Park sports complex, terminating a short distance south of the Interstate 610 loop expressway. The rolling stock consists of Siemens Avanto S70 articulated light rail vehicles, which are also used in Charlotte. The tracks are mostly in reserved lanes in the center of streets, which led to a large number of automobile-train collisions (mostly caused by drivers making illegal left turns) in the first several months of operation.

After much controversy, plans are proceeding for light rail lines in five other corridors, starting with an east-west route.

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Pictures

These pictures are from a brief visit on 18-19 May 2008.

[picture] A northbound train stops at the Hermann Park - Rice University station, in the middle of Fannin St. next to the park.

[picture] A southbound train on Fannin north of the Hermann Park - Rice University station.

[picture] A bit further north, a northbound train turns from Fannin onto San Jacinto St. just north of Hermann Park. From here, Fannin and San Jacinto have one-way traffic in opposite directions, with the METRORail tracks in their curb lanes. After a while, the tracks will rejoin and run down the center of Main St. into downtown Houston.

[picture] The northern end of the line is at the University of Houston's downtown campus.

[front] | [back] A single-trip ticket from a vending machine at the UH-Downtown station.

This page was last updated on 14 June 2008.

Presbyterian College > Academic Web Server > Jon Bell > Transit > (Cities | Types) > Houston

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