Red Line (MARTA)
The Red Line is a rapid transit line in the Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority|MARTA] rail system. It operates between North Springs and Airport stations, running through Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Atlanta, East Point and College Park.
History
What is now the Gold and Red Lines' shared section was originally opened on December 4, 1981, as the North-South Line between and. On September 11, 1982, an infill station at opened, while the North-South Line was extended south by one stop to West End station. On December 18 the same year, the North-South Line was extended northward to and. On December 15, 1984, the,, and stations all opened, as did the, and Brookhaven on what was then the northernmost portion of the North-South Line. East Point station opened on August 16, 1986, followed by on December 19, 1987, and the and on June 18, 1988. Finally, opened on December 29, 1992.On June 8, 1996, MARTA added a new branch of the North-South Line, with stations at,, and : the first rail stations served exclusively by what is now the Red Line. To distinguish the two lines, the line to Dunwoody assumed the North-South Rail Line name, while the line to Doraville became the Northeast-South Rail Line. 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.
In December 2006, the North-South Line began to be colored as red, distinguishing it from the Northeast Line, which retained the color orange. 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, and then to the Gold Line.
Proposed extension
In 2003, MARTA began exploring options to extend the Red Line north of Sandy Springs. In 2011, MARTA initiated its Alternatives Analysis to study options for extending the Red Line to SR-140 as part of the regional one-cent sales tax referendum. The, or Connect 400. was a future plan to further expand the Red Line an additional 11.9 miles to the northern end of Fulton County running on or parallel to Georgia 400. The plans included stations at Northridge Road, Holcomb Bridge Road, North Point Mall / Encore Parkway, Old Milton Parkway, and Windward Parkway. The project was tabled in 2016 when the Georgia Senate rejected two bills authorizing a sales tax funding the project.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. 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.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 service operates through to Airport station during all operating hours. When major single tracking occurs, Red Line train service operates between North Springs and Lindbergh Center stations only.