METRORail

A MetroRail train approaching a station in Downtown Houston, Texas

METRORail is the light rail service in Houston, Texas that started on January 1, 2004. It is the second major light rail service in Texas.

METRORail is operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, or METRO for short. The current track of rail runs through the Texas Medical Center and Downtown Houston.

Additional rail will be laid, as it had been approved by a slight margin (52% yes to 48% no) in the November, 2003 election. Rail will likely go to outlying suburbs within Harris County, as well as other parts of Houston, and the two major airports: George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport.

Also, METRO is planning a heavy rail system in conjunction with the light rail system, pending feasibility of the plan.

The inside cabin of a MetroRail train

In its early days, the METRORail had an astonishingly high crash rate of 36 accidents from its opening through April 22. The collision rate recorded was 25 times the U.S. average for light rail systems nationwide. [1]

Table of contents

1 Lines 1.1 Red Line 2 External Links

Lines

• South Fannin
• Reliant Park
• Smith Lands
• Texas Medical Center Transit Center
• Dryden/Texas Medical Center
• Memorial Hermann Hospital/Houston Zoo
• Hermann Park/Rice University
• Houston Museum District (2 stations, one northbound and one southbound)
• Wheeler
• Ensemble/Houston Community College
• McGowen
• Downtown Transit Center
• Bell
• Main Street Square
• Preston
• University of Houston - Downtown

• METRORail Homepage