Capital MetroRail

Capital MetroRail

Capital MetroRail train at Lakeline station.
Overview
Owner	Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Locale	Austin, Texas, U.S.
Transit type	Commuter rail
Number of lines	Red Line
Number of stations	9
Daily ridership	2,900 (weekday, Q1 2014)
Annual ridership	817,300 (2013)
Website	www.capmetro.org/metrorail
Operation
Began operation	March 22, 2010
Operator(s)	Herzog Transit Services
Number of vehicles	6Diesel-electric Stadler GTWs
Technical
System length	32 mi (51 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Route diagram Leander 0:00 183A Toll Road Lakeline 0:15 SH 45 Toll Howard 0:28 Loop 1 Kramer 0:35 US 183 Crestview 0:42 Highland 0:45 I-35 MLK, Jr. 0:52 Plaza Saltillo 0:58 I-35 Downtown 1:02 Gateway

Capital MetroRail is a commuter rail system that serves the Greater Austin area in Texas, and which is owned by the Capital Metro. The Red Line, Capital Metro's first and only rail line, connects Downtown Austin with Austin's northern suburbs. The line operates on 32 miles (51 kilometers) of existing freight tracks, and serves nine stations.

After a series of delays, Capital MetroRail was inaugurated in March 2010. Daily ridership during the first nine months was approximately 800 riders per weekday, although it had doubled to 1,600 by its first anniversary. Capital Metro added additional runs during midday beginning in mid-January 2011. Capital Metro added Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and evening regularly scheduled service on March 23, 2012.

As of 2014, MetroRail has an average weekday ridership of approximately 2,900 passengers per day and is the twenty-second most-ridden commuter rail system in the country out of twenty-eight operational commuter rail systems.

Advocates of modern urban rail began calling on the city of Austin to develop a passenger rail system at the height of the 1970s energy crisis. When voters approved Capital Metro's creation in 1985, the agency was seen not only as the new operator of local bus services, but the developer of a future passenger rail as well. The next year, Capital Metro partnered with the City of Austin to purchase the 162-mile Giddings-to-Llano Austin and Northwestern Railroad on which the Red Line currently operates from the Southern Pacific Transportation Company with the express purpose of someday operating passenger rail on it. The purchase price was $9.3 million, of which $6 million came from a grant from the Federal Transit Administration, $0.6 million came from the City of Austin and $2.7 million came from Capital Metro. On May 20, 1998, Capital Metro acquired the City of Austin's share in the railroad for $1 million.