METRORail
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Houston (Texas, USA) |
| Transit type | Light rail/Tram |
| Number of lines | 3 (5 planned) |
| Number of stations | 37 (open) 2 (under construction) |
| Chief executive | Tom Lambert |
| Headquarters | Lee P. Brown METRO Administration Building 1900 Main St. |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | January 1, 2004 |
| Operator(s) | Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County |
| Character | At grade, with street running sections |
| Number of vehicles | 37 Siemens S70 39 CAF USA vehicles |
| Train length | Two cars |
| Headway | 6–20 minutes |
| Technical | |
| System length | 23.8 mi (38.3 km) (planned 24.4 mi (39.3 km)) |
| No. of tracks | 2 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Minimum radius of curvature | 350 ft (107 m) |
| Electrification | 600/750 V DC overhead catenary |
METRORail is the 23.8-mile (38.3 km)light rail system in Houston, Texas (USA). As of 2015, the METRORail has an average weekday ridership of 60,600 and total annual ridership of 16,500,400. After Dallas' DART Light Rail, METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the 13th most-traveled light rail system in the United States. METRORail is operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO).
This line was built after an approximately 20-year battle, starting in 1983 when Houston voters rejected a rail plan by referendum. A voter referendum in 1988 approved a 20-mile (32 km) light rail plan; however, Bob Lanier was elected mayor in 1992 and stopped the plan. In 1991, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay removed $65 million in federal funding for the rail line. Then, Houston drew up a rail plan with entirely local funding. In 2001, several groups sued to stop construction, claiming that the METRO organization was a "private business" and subject to Houston City Charter provisions regulating business use of its streets; they obtained 2 temporary injunctions in January 2001, which were reversed by appeals court on March 9, 2001.
Ground was broken on the original 7.5-mile (12.1 km), 16-station portion of the line (from UH–Downtown to Fannin South) on March 13, 2001. The opening of METRORail, which took place on January 1, 2004, came 64 years after the previous streetcar system had been shut down. The cost was $324 million. Houston was the largest city in the United States without a rail system after the 1990 opening of the Blue Line in Los Angeles.
Tom DeLay strongly opposed construction of the METRORail line and twice blocked federal funding for the system in the United States House of Representatives. Thus the Metrorail was built without any federal funding until November 2011 when a $900 million grant was approved for expansions, under the executive order by President Barack Obama.
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