RED LINE (CLEVELAND)

The 'Red Line' ('Route 66X') is a rapid transit line of the RTA Rapid Transit in Cleveland, Ohio, running from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport northeast to Tower City in downtown Cleveland, then east and northeast to Windermere. 2.6 miles (4.2 km) of track, including two stations (East 34th-Campus and East 55th), are shared with the light rail Blue and Green Lines; the stations have high platforms for the Red Line and low platforms for the Blue and Green Lines. The whole Red Line is built next to current or former freight or intercity passenger railroads. It uses overhead lines and pantographs to draw power.

Contents

History

Station stops

Schedule

Fare collection

Rolling stock

Movie references

External links

References

History

The corridor along which the Red Line runs had been planned for use since before 1930, when the Cleveland Union Terminal opened. The first short section, between East 34th and East 55th Streets, was in use by the Cleveland Interurban Railroad in 1920, and in 1930 the line between East 34th and the Union Terminal was completed. It was not until March 15, 1955 that the eastern half of the Red Line opened, from the existing line near East 55th northeast next to the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road) to Windermere. The line from downtown southwest to West 117th Street opened August 15; this line ran next to the Nickel Plate to the crossing of the New York Central Railroad near West 101st Street, and then next to the New York Central. On November 15, 1958 an extension to West Park opened, and the final section, continuing to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, opened in 1968, the first airport rail link in North America.

Station stops

The Red Line makes the following station stops from west to east (stations are listed along with indications of their accessibility, availability of free parking, travel time to Tower City, and opening date for Red Line service):

Station Name			Time	Opened	Rebuilt
Airport			26 min	November 15, 1968	May 1994
Brookpark		Free parking	22 min	April 20, 1969	Planned
Puritas		Free parking	19 min	November 15, 1968	—
West Park		Free parking	17 min	November 15, 1958	May 1996
Triskett		Free parking	15 min	November 15, 1958	November 15, 2000
West 117th-Madison		Free parking	13 min	August 14, 1955	September 2007
West Blvd.-Cudell		Free parking	10 min	August 14, 1955	April 1999
West 65th-Lorain		Free parking	7 min	August 14, 1955	September 21, 2004
West 25th-Ohio City			4 min	August 14, 1955	September 1992
Tower City			0 min	March 15, 1955	December 17, 1990
East 34th-Campus			4 min	March 1, 1971	August 18, 2003
East 55th			6 min	March 15, 1955
East 79th			9 min	March 15, 1955	—
East 105th-Quincy			12 min	March 15, 1955	November 4, 2005
University Circle			14 min	March 15, 1955
Euclid-East 120th			16 min	March 15, 1955	—
Superior		Free parking	18 min	March 15, 1955	September 1996
Stokes/Windermere		Free parking	20 min	March 15, 1955	June 22, 1997

Schedule

The Red Line runs from approximately 4:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. daily. Trains run about every 15 minutes during most times, with extra service provided between Brookpark and Tower City during rush hours.^[1] (Service to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is provided by # 22 buses between 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m.)

Fare collection

Main articles: Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority#Fares, l1=RTA Fares

Effective June 6, 2006, the one-way cash fare on the RTA Rapid Transit is $1.75. An All-Day pass, allowing unlimited riding on the rapid transit as well as on RTA buses is $3.50 ($1.25 for children). A five-ride fare card can be purchased for $7.50 (which is $1.50 per ride). Weekly and monthly passes are also available, and there are discounted fares for seniors and disabled. These fares will remain in effect until January 7, 2008, when a scheduled fare increase goes into effect.
Only major stations have a secure turnstile system. In most stations, either in a station house or on the platform is a station agent booth. In this booth is a bus-like farebox in which passengers pay their fares. While in most cases the passenger flow is light enough to have a secure system, in a few cases with a busy station, some passengers may choose to bypass the step. In that case, the system doesn't have a proof of payment system, in which random checks are performed to make sure everyone paid their fares.
RTA plans to change to a proof-of-payment system by the summer of 2008. RTA has contracted to purchase new ticket vending machines that will be provided at all stations.^[2]

Rolling stock

The Red Line uses a fleet of 60 stainless-steel subway-type cars manufactured by Tokyu Car Corporation and delivered to RTA between 1984 and September 1985.^[3] The cars have three sets of doors on each side, one in the center and one at each end adjacent to the operator cab. Use of the end doors facilitates fare collection on board the train during off hours and at little-used stations. The cars' exteriors originally had orange and red stripes along the sides, but these stripes were removed when RTA changed to a red, white and blue color scheme. Twenty of the cars are operable in single units, and they are numbered as 181-200. The other 40 cars are operable in pairs, and they are numbered as 301-340.
The current cars represent the third generation of cars that have been used on the line. The line opened using a fleet of shorter cars manufactured by the St. Louis Car Company in 1954 and 1955. The cars were 48½ feet (14.8 m) long with blue and gray exteriors and are often referred to as "Blue Birds." They were virtually identical to the cars built by St. Louis Car at the same time for MBTA's Blue Line. Twelve cars were operable as single units with cabs at each end, and 56 cars operable as pairs. The single units were numbered as 101–112, and the paired units as 201–256. Additional cars in this fleet were purchased in 1958 when the line was extended to West Park. These comprised six additional single unit cars (numbers 113–118) and 14 additional double unit cars (numbers 257–270).
When the extension to Hopkins Airport was being built in 1967, a fleet of 20 longer cars was purchased to supplement and replace the Blue Birds. These second generation cars, numbered as 151–170, were 72 feet (22 m) long and were built by Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company. The cars, which had a stainless steel exterior with red and white trim and featured interior luggage racks, were promoted as "Airporters." The Airporters supplanted the Blue Birds, except during rush hour when extra cars were needed. In 1970 ten additional Airporters were purchased, numbered as 171–180. With the purchase of the Tokyu cars in 1985, all Airporters and Blue Birds were retired.

Movie references

The Red Line is prominently featured in the final scenes of the film ''Proximity'', starring Rob Lowe and James Coburn. The finale involves a hostage on a Red Line train and a gunfight and chase scene through the Tower City station.

External links

★ Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority - Maps

★ Jon Bell - Cleveland, Ohio: Red Line

References

1. Route 66X Weekday: Red Line. Schedule from ''RTA Website''. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
2.
RTA buying high-tech fare boxes Prepay honor system will be tried Sarah Hollander
3. About RTA: History of Public Transit in Greater Cleveland. ''RTA Website''. Retrieved on 2007-06-14.


★ U.S. Urban Rail Transit Lines Opened From 1980 (PDF)

★ nycsubway.org - Cleveland, Ohio