The Red Line is the older and longer line of the MetroLink light rail system in Greater St. Louis. It serves 29 stations across three counties and two states.

Quick Facts Overview, Status ...

Red Line
Eastbound Red Line train traveling through the Central West End
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Bi-State Development Agency
Locale	Greater St. Louis, Missouri–Illinois, U.S.
Termini	Lambert Airport Terminal 1 (west) Shiloh–Scott (east)
Stations	29 (1 under construction)
Service
Type	Light rail
System	St. Louis MetroLink
Operator(s)	Metro Transit
History
Opened	July 31, 1993 (1993-07-31)
Previous names	Lambert Airport Branch
Technical
Line length	38 mi (61 km)
Character	Elevated, subway, at-grade
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 750 V DC
Route map Red Line highlighted in red Show interactive map Legend Lambert Airport Terminal 1 Lambert Airport Terminal 2 I-70 North Hanley UMSL North UMSL South Rock Road Terminal Railroad Wellston Delmar Loop Blue Line to Shrewsbury-Lansdowne I-44 Forest Park–DeBaliviere Central West End Cortex I-64 / US 40 Grand Ewing Yard I-64 / US 40 Union Station Civic Center Stadium 8th & Pine Convention Center I-44 Laclede's Landing Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River MO IL East Riverfront 5th & Missouri I-64 Emerson Park Joyner-Kersee Center I-64 29th Street Yard Washington Park I-255 / US 50 Fairview Heights Memorial Hospital Swansea Norfolk Southern Railway Belleville College Norfolk Southern Railway Shiloh–Scott (via ) MidAmerica St. Louis Airport All stations are accessible This diagram: view talk edit Show diagram map

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Transit planning along the Airport/Central corridor began as early as 1971, when it was selected as the region's primary target for further study. In 1983, funding was approved to evaluate five mode alternatives, which culminated in a 1984 draft environmental impact statement. After a series of public hearings, the East–West Gateway Council of Governments adopted light rail as the region's preferred mode alternative.^[1]: 203

The project's capital expense budget was $287.7 million (equivalent to $640 million in 2023 dollars), which covered design, engineering, construction, and testing.^[1]: 201 The city of St. Louis acquired unused railroad facilities and property with an estimated value of $100 million and donated it to the project, supplying the local match.^[1]: 201

Construction on the initial 13.9-mile (22.4 km) alignment began in 1990. It opened on July 31, 1993 with 16 stations between North Hanley and 5th & Missouri.^[2] The remainder of this initial 17-mile (27 km) alignment was completed on June 25, 1994, when the extension to Lambert Airport Main opened.^[3] Three infill stations have been added to this original alignment: East Riverfront in 1994, Lambert Airport East in 1998, and Cortex in 2018.^[4][5]

In 1998, construction began on the 17.4-mile (28.0 km), eight station St. Clair County, Illinois extension between 5th & Missouri and College, opening in May 2001. The total project cost was $339.2 million with $243.9 million paid by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and $95.2 million paid by the St. Clair County Transit District (SCCTD).^[6] An additional $75 million, 3.5-mile (5.6 km) extension from College to the Shiloh-Scott station opened in 2003. It was funded by a $60 million grant from the Illinois FIRST (Fund for Infrastructure, Roads, Schools, and Transit) Program and $15 million from SCCTD.^[7]

From its 1993 opening until October 27, 2008, the Red Line was known as the Lambert Airport branch.^[8]

On July 26, 2022, portions of the Red Line were impacted by a flash flood that shut down the system for nearly 72 hours and caused roughly $40 million in damage.^[9][10] Damages included nearly 5 miles (8.0 km) of track bed, two elevators, two communications rooms and three signal houses.^[11] By that September, normal Red Line service had resumed while restricted service continued on the Blue Line.^[12]

On July 31, 2023, Metro received $27.7 million in federal emergency disaster relief funding to help cover the cost of flood damage.^[13]

The 38-mile (61 km) Red Line alignment begins at Lambert St. Louis International Airport, making stops at the Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 stations. It then proceeds through Kinloch before making a stop at the North Hanley station near Bel-Ridge. It makes 2 stops (UMSL North & UMSL South) at the University of Missouri St. Louis located in Normandy. After departing UMSL, trains divert south onto the former Wabash/Norfolk & Western Railroad's Union Depot line that once brought passenger trains from Ferguson to Union Station. It then travels into Pagedale stopping at the Rock Road station and then at Wellston's namesake station on Plymouth Street. From here, the Red Line crosses the St. Louis City/County boundary line at Skinker Boulevard, making a stop at the Delmar Loop station which serves the popular Delmar Loop area and is located just below the original Wabash Railroad's Delmar Station building. At the following station, Forest Park-DeBaliviere, the Red Line meets the Blue Line. From this station the two services share a track alignment with each other until the Blue Line terminates at the Fairview Heights station in Illinois.

In the initial design phase of MetroLink, Metro's Arts in Transit program commissioned a group of artists to design unique bridge piers for MetroLink viaducts. Collaborating with architects and engineers, the artists designed the arched supports that reflect an inverted version of the arch motif used throughout the MetroLink system. The bridge pier style is a signature of MetroLink design and appears in the subsequent St. Clair and Cross County extensions.^[22]

In 2008, the Arts in Transit program commissioned a work for the alignment along Interstate 70 near Lambert Airport. Titled St. Louis Rhythm and created by Richard Elliot, it was made using roadway reflectors on 16 concrete Jersey barriers that are activated by the headlights of passing cars.^[23]

In 2011, another Arts in Transit commission was installed on the shared alignment near Interstate 64 on the bridge over Vandeventer Avenue. Titled Blue Train and created by Clark Wiegman, a cubist locomotive represents the opening eight bars of the melody of “St. Louis Blues.” During the day, this piece appears as a locomotive spewing a trail of notes or an unfurling piano roll. At night, it becomes a geometric abstraction about linear dynamism and the implied form of the bridge punching through the surrounding ambient light.^[24]

Previously proposed extensions of the Red Line are defunct; regional leaders have said their priorities are proposed expansions in the city of St. Louis and North St. Louis County.^[34]