Downtown station (Capital MetroRail)

Downtown (or Downtown-Convention Center) is a Capital MetroRail commuter rail station in Austin, Texas. It is located in Downtown Austin at the corner of Fourth and Neches Street behind the Austin Convention Center. It is the current southern terminus of the Red Line. It was also the smallest, but busiest Capital MetroRail station, before it was rebuilt and expanded.[2]

Downtown
Downtown station after the 2020 renovation
Location401 East Fourth Street
Austin, Texas 78701
Owned byCapital Metro
Platforms1 side platform (2010–2019)
1 island platform and 1 side platform (2020–present)
Connections 4, 17
Waller Creek Greenbelt Trail
Construction
ParkingStreet
Bicycle facilitiesYes (Bikeshare)
Disabled accessYes
History
OpenedMarch 22, 2010[1]
RebuiltOctober 19, 2020 (opening of permanent Downtown station)
Services
Preceding station Capital Metro Following station
Plaza Saltillo
toward Leander
 Red Line Terminus
Future services
Preceding station Capital Metro Following station
Plaza Saltillo
toward Colony Park
 Green Line Terminus
Republic Square
toward North Lamar Transit Center
 Blue Line Macc/Rainey
toward Austin–Bergstrom International Airport

History
The former station seen in 2012

Construction began in August 2008 and concluded in November of that year.[3] On June 2, 2019, the Downtown station temporarily closed so that construction on an expanded station (three-track, two-platform) could commence; it was later reopened in early November of that year, but without Saturday service until the end of 2019. Construction on the new station proceeded until October 2020, when the permanent Downtown station opened.[4]

Reconstruction

In 2015, Capital Metro announced its plans to rebuild the Downtown station to allow greater frequency and capacity on the Red Line. Construction on the new station started in 2019 when the existing 1-track, 1-platform station was torn down and a temporary station was built two blocks east of the existing station.[5] The new station was said to have 3 tracks and 2 platforms, and will sit one block east of the existing station, paralleling 4th street between Neches and Red River Street. It will help ease congestion during periods of time when many people want to board a train, such as during the SXSW festival held at the adjacent Austin Convention Center.

Traffic on Neches street heading south will no longer be able to turn right onto 4th street, and instead will have to turn around due to the large waiting plaza at the west end of the station. However, the Lance Armstrong Bikeway will continue along 4th street, paralleling the new station and ending at Trinity street. Cars heading south on Red River street will no longer be able to turn right onto 4th street, and will only be able to continue straight along Red River street, crossing the MetroRail tracks as it does. There will be one one-way westbound traffic lane on the north side of 4th street between the I-35 frontage road and Red River street, where it then will be forced to turn right or left onto Red River street.[6] The block of 4th street between Trinity and Neches street will be a pedestrian plaza equipped with ticket kiosks, shade trees, and benches.[7]

In 2019, Capital Metro was forced to cut back the design of the new station due to a shortage of labor and tariffs imposed by the Trump administration that raised the price of steel. The changes include shortening the northernmost track to allow it to hold only 1 train instead of 2, reducing the number of shade canopies from 7 to 5, temporarily removing ticketing kiosks, and removing some landscaping and decorative concrete from the pedestrian plaza.[8] The stripped design will reduce the station's capacity from 6 trains to 4 trains, and only the middle of the 3 tracks will be long enough to hold a 2-unit consist. However, the station is designed to allow the northernmost track and platform to be easily extended to allow 2 one-unit trains or 1 two-unit train to sit in the platform, similar to the design of the middle track. This would allow the station to hold up to 5 trains. The new downtown station will serve the existing Red Line and allow it to increase its frequency to 15 minute headways per direction, replacing the current minimum headway of 30 minutes. The new station will also eventually serve the Green Line, a proposed commuter rail line that will run from the downtown station to as far east as Elgin.[9]

The permanent Downtown station opened on October 19, 2020, several months ahead of schedule and under budget.[10]

Bus connections
  • #4 Montopolis
  • #17 Cesar Chavez

References
  1. Wear, Ben (March 23, 2010). "MetroRail launches with smooth start". Austin American-Statesman. p. A1.
  2. "The Making of A New Downtown MetroRail Station". Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  3. "Downtown Station Almost Complete". Capital MetroBlog. Capital Metro. November 25, 2008. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
  4. "Downtown Station Redevelopment". Default. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  5. "CapMetro opens temporary Downtown Austin station". kvue.com. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  6. Denney, Amy (2019-01-28). "Capital Metro plans March groundbreaking for new downtown Austin MetroRail station, tweaks design of project". impact. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  7. "Downtown Station – Capital Metro – Austin Public Transit". www.capmetro.org. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  8. "Capital Metro cuts back on downtown station plan". Austin Monitor. 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  9. "Capital MetroRail Green Line Map" (PDF). Capital Metro.
  10. "Downtown Station Redevelopment". Default. Retrieved 2020-10-18.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.