Misplaced Pages

Gold Line
A Gold Line train on the viaduct north of Arts Center station
Overview
Status	Operational
Locale	Atlanta, Georgia
Termini	Doraville (northeast) Airport (south)
Stations	18 (4 Northeast, 6 North, Five Points, 7 South)
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	MARTA rail
Operator(s)	MARTA
Rolling stock	See MARTA rail#Rolling stock
History
Opened	1981
Technical
Character	at grade, elevated, underground
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Third rail, 750 V DC
Route map Gold Line highlighted in gold Show interactive map Legend  Red  N11 North Springs N10 Sandy Springs N9 Dunwoody I-285 N8 Medical Center N7 Buckhead  Gold  NE10 Doraville NE9 Chamblee NE8 Brookhaven/​Oglethorpe NE7 Lenox SR 400 N6 Lindbergh Center Armour Yard Armour Yards I-85 N5 Arts Center N4 Midtown N3 North Avenue N2 Civic Center N1 Peachtree Center Atlanta Streetcar 0 Five Points Blue Green S1 Garnett I-20 S2 West End Murphy Crossing S3 Oakland City S4 Lakewood/​Fort McPherson S5 East Point S6 College Park South Yard & Shops I-85 Red Gold S7 Airport Key Red Line Gold Line Red/Gold Blue/Green Yard tracks All stations are accessible This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram

The Gold Line is a rapid transit line in the MARTA rail system. It operates between Doraville and Airport stations, running through Doraville, Chamblee, Brookhaven, Atlanta, East Point and College Park.

History

What is now the Gold and Red Lines' shared section was originally opened on December 4, 1981, as the North-South Line between Garnett and North Avenue. On September 11, 1982, an infill station at Peachtree Center opened, while the North-South Line was extended south by one stop to West End station. On December 18 the same year, the North-South Line was extended northward to Midtown and Arts Center. On December 15, 1984, the Lakewood/​Fort McPherson, Oakland City, Lindbergh Center, Lenox, and Brookhaven (now Brookhaven/​Oglethorpe) stations all opened, with the last two being the first stations on what would become the Gold Line branch. East Point station opened on August 16, 1986, followed by Chamblee on December 19, 1987, and the College Park and Airport on June 18, 1988. The newest and northermost station on the line, Doraville, opened on December 29, 1992.

On June 8, 1996, MARTA added a new branch of the North-South Line, with stations at Buckhead, Medical Center, and Dunwoody. To distinguish the two lines, the line to Dunwoody assumed the North-South Rail Line name, while the line to Doraville became the Northeast-South Rail Line (sometimes known as the Northeast Line for short). However, both the North-South Line and the Northeast Line continued to be colored on maps in orange as a single North-South Rail Line until December 2006, when the North-South Line began to be colored as red, and the Northeast Line as orange.

In October 2009, MARTA introduced a color-coded system of naming rail lines, with the Northeast Line being renamed to the Yellow Line, and the color orange falling out of use. The Yellow Line name would remain in use until February 2010, when, due to the "Yellow Line" name being controversial among the large Asian-American community along the line, it was renamed to the Gold Line.

Now known as the Gold Line, it shares trackage with its counterpart, the Red Line, between the Airport and just north of the Lindbergh Center.

Future

On March 25, 2024, Andre Dickens, the mayor of Atlanta, announced plans for four new infill stations on the MARTA rail network, with one of them, Murphy Crossing, being a station on the Red and Gold Lines' shared section. Murphy Crossing will be on the west side of the Atlanta Beltline. On April 11, Dickens announced that another one of the four proposed stations will also be shared by the Red and Gold Lines: namely, Armour Yards, located near the similarly-named Armour Yard.

Line description

The Gold Line runs above ground, at grade and below ground in various portions of its route. It begins at the northeastern terminus, Doraville station in Doraville. The nonrevenue tracks extend northeastward from the station north of I-285. It then goes southwestward paralleling Peachtree Road in DeKalb County. Upon entering Atlanta in Buckhead, it crosses over the Red Line in the median of GA 400 before joining the Red Line, going southwest paralleling I-85. It turns south through Midtown and enters downtown Atlanta, where it meets the Blue and Green Lines at Five Points station. Leaving downtown, the Gold Line continues south, paralleling Lee Street and Main Street into East Point and College Park before reaching its terminus at the Airport station.

Naming controversy

When the color-based name change was proposed, it was the Yellow Line at first. However, in February 2010, the name was revised to Gold in order to address a concern among the Asian-American residents along the rail corridor. The section of the Gold Line that is not shared by the Red Line has a significant number of Asian-American residents, to whom the term "yellow" is considered racist. Despite the color name change, interestingly many MARTA system maps denoted the Gold Line with the yellow color still until 2017.

Stations

listed from northeast to south

1. The east–west (now Blue/Green Line) platform opened in 1979.

References

1. ^ "nycsubway.org: Atlanta, Georgia". www.nycsubway.org. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
2. ^ Sams, Douglas. "Jacoby eyes MARTA rail to Ford site". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
3. ^ "Getting There on MARTA - Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority". Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. Archived from the original on August 1, 2003. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
4. "North-South Rail Line - MARTA". Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. Archived from the original on August 10, 2003. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
5. "Northeast-South Rail Line - MARTA". Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. Archived from the original on August 10, 2003. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
6. "MARTA - Getting There - Rail Schedules & Maps". Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. Archived from the original on March 8, 2006. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
7. "MARTA - Getting There - Rail Schedules & Maps". Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. Archived from the original on December 29, 2006. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
8. "MARTA launches color-coded rail system". www.metro-magazine.com. Metro Magazine. October 2, 2009. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
9. "Rail Stations & Schedules". www.itsmarta.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
10. Hansen, Zachary (March 25, 2024). "Atlanta mayor announces 4 new MARTA rail stations, including near Beltline". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Cox Enterprises. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
11. Bunch, Riley (April 11, 2024). "Mayor Dickens announces locations of new Atlanta MARTA stations". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Cox Enterprises. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
12. ^ Ariel Hart (February 11, 2010). "MARTA changes "yellow" line to "gold"". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on February 14, 2010. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
13. "http://itsmarta.com/ne-dor-overview.aspx"
14. "http://itsmarta.com/ne-bro-overview.aspx"
15. "http://itsmarta.com/ne-len-overview.aspx"
16. "http://itsmarta.com/ne-lin-overview.aspx"
17. "http://itsmarta.com/ns-art-overview.aspx"
18. "http://itsmarta.com/ns-mid-overview.aspx"
19. "http://itsmarta.com/ns-nor-overview.aspx"
20. "http://itsmarta.com/ns-civ-overview.aspx"
21. "http://itsmarta.com/ns-pea-overview.aspx"
22. "Peachtree Center Station Tour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DDOKOpKmJA"
23. ^ "Five Points Station Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkLKot2vk3Y"
24. "http://itsmarta.com/ns-gar-overview.aspx"
25. "http://itsmarta.com/ns-wes-overview.aspx"
26. "http://itsmarta.com/ns-oak-overview.aspx"
27. "http://itsmarta.com/ns-lak-overview.aspx"
28. "http://itsmarta.com/ns-eas-overview.aspx"
29. "College Park Station http://itsmarta.com/ns-col-overview.aspx"
30. "Airport Station Tour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNcj6GOTen0"

External links

• Gold Line overview
• Gold Line schedule

v t e Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)
Red Line	Airport College Park East Point Lakewood/​Fort McPherson Oakland City West End Garnett Five Points Peachtree Center Civic Center North Avenue Midtown Arts Center Lindbergh Center Buckhead Medical Center Dunwoody Sandy Springs North Springs
Gold Line	Airport College Park East Point Lakewood/​Fort McPherson Oakland City West End Garnett Five Points Peachtree Center Civic Center North Avenue Midtown Arts Center Lindbergh Center Lenox Brookhaven/​Oglethorpe Chamblee Doraville
Blue Line	Hamilton E. Holmes West Lake Ashby Vine City GWCC/​CNN Center Five Points Georgia State King Memorial Inman Park/​Reynoldstown Edgewood/​Candler Park East Lake Decatur Avondale Kensington Indian Creek
Green Line	Bankhead Ashby Vine City GWCC/​CNN Center Five Points Georgia State King Memorial Inman Park/​Reynoldstown Edgewood/​Candler Park
Atlanta Streetcar	Centennial Olympic Park Carnegie at Spring Luckie at Cone Peachtree Center Woodruff Park Park Place Hurt Park Auburn at Piedmont Sweet Auburn Market Dobbs Plaza Edgewood at Hilliard King Historic District
Other	List of MARTA bus routes MARTA rail History List of stations Breeze Card Projects BeltLine Clayton County commuter rail Clifton Corridor

• Gold Line (MARTA)
• Airport rail links in the United States
• Railway lines opened in 1981
• Naming controversies