MARTA North-South Line

North-South Line

Lindbergh Center. The Lindbergh Center station is in an open trench below ground level, and has an island platform between two tracks, and a side platform serving the northbound track. (Northbound trains open their doors on both sides.) The station opened on December 15, 1984. This is the last station heading northbound before the two branches above diverge at Centerbury Junction. The northbound side platform wall is at an angle, with rocks and some landscaping on it. The southbound side has a regular wall, up to the upper level bus transfer area. There is a roof, made of corrugated steel and supported by I-beams, covering half of the station. There is a skylight in the roof, where each glass panel is stained a different color of the spectrum. When the sun shines through, it creates a rainbow on the platform. On the upper level of the station is a rail to bus transfer area inside the fare paid area. On the south end of the station, the train runs on ground level, and on the north end, the train goes into a tunnel.

In between Lindbergh Center and Arts Center is located MARTA's Armour Yard, opened May 23, 2005. The MARTA press release for the opening ceremonies of the yard notes that Armour Yard "will maintain and store over 100 rail cars on 12,000 feet of track.... [it] includes a 208,000 sq. ft. Maintenance and Overhaul Facility, Control Tower, Traction Power Substation, Gap Breaker Building, Train Wash, Cleaner Building, Blow Down Pit, Maintenance of Way Building, and Petroleum Oils and Lubricants Building."

Arts Center. The Arts Center station is a underground subway station with an island platform between two tracks. Along the platform walls, there is a brownish abstract art molded into the walls. The rest of the walls in the station are made of cement designed to look like wood. (Look close, you have to feel it to notice!) There are other paintings found throughout the rest of the station, all are of different things, fitting for a station called "Arts Center." "Arts Center" signs hang from the ceiling. At the ground level of the station there is a rail to bus transfer inside the paid area. The Arts Center station opened on September 11, 1982.

Midtown. Midtown station is underground subway station, with two side platforms surrounding two tracks. The walls are plain white rectangular tile. "Midtown" signs are near the top of the wall. The walls at the ends of the station, where the tunnels are, and the walls in the middle of the station, where the elevators and escalators are located, are made of the same type of "wood-decorated" cement as found at Arts Center. The Midtown station opened on September 11, 1982.

North Avenue. The North Avenue station is underground with two side platforms surrounding two tracks. It was opened on December 4, 1981. This station has a painting that covers most of the walls on both platforms. The paintings are basically the same: clouds with a blue sky and green hills. It is not a realistic painting, it's more abstract, but still attractive. Near the tops of the walls, there is an air vent that runs along the whole station. Orange "North Avenue" signs are placed on the vents. The north entrance is inside of the BellSouth building, just next to the street. The south entrance has a rail to bus transfer area outside the paid area. Similar paintings to those on the platforms are on the walls of the south station entrance. The mezzanine inside the paid area allows access to both platforms.

Civic Center. The Civic Center station is underground subway station with two side platforms surrounding two tracks. It was opened on December 4, 1981. A feature of this station is that it is directly over Interstate 75/85. Above the station is West Peachtree Street. It is the only subway station in the world that is above a highway. From the area outside the faregates, you can see the interstate though the windows. There is an orange railing in between the tracks. The station walls are a plain white rectangular tile, with orange "Civic Center" signs along them. Seats along the platforms have high backs to them, because they divide the paid and non paid areas. There is an underpass to get to the opposite platform. Civic Center serves the Peachtree Summit bulding primarily and not the Civic Center which is at least 1/2 mile away. The station has very little ridership.

Peachtree Center. Peachtree Center is an underground subway station with an island platform in between two tracks. The station was bypassed as part of the North-South Line opening of December 4, 1981. It is probably one of the most attractive subway stations anywhere. The floor is made of gray tile, and the walls made of the exposed rock which are the veins of Stone Mountain out of which the station was carved. You can see where the holes for dynamite were drilled. The ceiling panels of the station are made of steel. The contour of the ceiling is reminiscent of a Washington, D.C. Metro station, but the design and materials are clearly different. There is use of indirect lighting coming from the ceiling. From between the walls and both tracks, there are columns that support air vents that run the length of the station. The columns are curved at the top, so that the vents are directly above the train. Like nearly all the stations in the system, there is an orange "railing" that runs the length of the station at a train's window level with the station name written along regular intervals. The southwest entrance (Ellis Street) to the station is where the longest escalator to the station is located. When you exit the faregates, turn right, it's just a few dozen feet away. The walls of the mezzanine outside the paid area are the same gray tile as the floor, it has the same ceiling design as the ceiling over the platform. The mezzanine has a poster that reads:

MARTA's moving Atlanta, 120 feet below Peachtree Street.

The Peachtree Center station was built by tunneling through solid gneiss, a grainitelike rock formed of layers of quartz and mica. This rock provides underground support for the station. Soft ground or mixed tunneling was used where there was insufficient rock structure for underground support. With this method, compressed air twice the normal atmospheric pressure was used to support the walls while permanent structures were being built. Like deep sea divers, workers on this section of the rapid rail transit system were required to undergo 30 minutes of compression/decompression when entering or coming out of the tunnel. This station is only one of a few tunnels in the world where the walls and the ceiling were carved from solid rock.

Length of longest escalator serving the station entrance across from the Atlanta Public Library is 190 feet- the longest in the southeast. Cost of Station: approx. $45 million. Station depth: 120 feet. Station length: 900 feet.

Intially when North-South Line was opened from Garnett to North Avenue stations, Peachtree Center station was bypassed and only the northbound track was used for north and south bound service. This was done to permit the finishing contractor to complete Peachtree Center station while allowing him access to the station by the southbound track. The Peachtree Center station finally opened on September 11, 1982.

Five Points. This is the main transfer point between the North-South and East-West lines of the MARTA system. Five Points is a subway station and was opened in December 1979, serving the East-West line only. The North-South Line level was opened on December 4, 1981. The station is built on four levels, the topmost level being a plaza area on the surface, down from which one can view the mezzanine. The mezzanine has the faregates, as well as an underground passageway outside the paid area to Underground Atlanta. Below this, the East-West line platform, and finally, the bottom level, the North-South line platform. Both East-West and North-South lines have an island platform and two side platforms serving two tracks. The walls along the side platforms have an red tile that goes up to about 9 feet high, after that, the walls are white. All the columns are made of marble imported from Italy around them. There are LED scrolling signs referred to as a Visual Public Address System (VPAS) along all the platforms. These signs display work in conjunction with a audion public address system to display recorded messages to passengers. At the ends of the platforms of the north/south level, there is the original facade of the Eiseman Building from downtown Atlanta preserved and reconstructed with around false windows. They go up is high as the east/west platforms, so that you can see them from there. All signs on the North-South line are orange, while the signs on the East-West are blue.

Garnett. Garnett station is elevated, with an island platform between two tracks. This station has three levels to it. It was opened on December 4, 1981. The upper level has an entrance from the street and a mezzanine that is about 3/4 the length of the platform below. The roof has a square waffle design to it. The ceiling above the platform has the same waffle design as the roof. At the north end of the station the tracks enter a tunnel, down which the Five Points station is visible. At the south end, the tracks are elevated. Blue tile covers the platform. At the end of the mezzanine above, there is nothing over the rest of the platform. Facing the northbound platform, you can see a prison across the street. Today the station services the Pretrial Detention Center, Greyhound Bus Terminal, Fulton County Court House and Atlanta City Hall. The lower level of the station is another entrance from another street and there is a Greyhound Bus Terminal next to the station. There is the same blue tile on this level as on the platform.

At the northbound end of the station, the subway is entered and there is a single interline connection track (X track) between the South Line and East Line between Georgia State and Five Points stations. Below the Garnett platform is a little known dead-end storage track.

West End. The West End station is elevated with two side platforms surrounding two tracks. The roof of the station is steel and there are skylights with no glass over portions of the track. All the stairs down to the lower level have dark red tiles on the walls. Other portions of walls have orange tile on them. The columns supporting the platform are concrete. Lower level mezzanine is as wide and long as the whole platforms above, it's very spacious. There is a bus to rail transfer area and station entrances in the lower level. The West End station opened on September 11, 1982.

The elevated or aerial struction between West End and Oakland City stations was construsted of precast concrete sections of the box girder type. It was brought to the job site in large sections spanning between the adjacent piers. This was first time ever done on MARTA.

Oakland City. The Oakland City station is an above grade station, with one island platform between two tracks. It was opened on December 15, 1984. For both entrances to this station, you have to go through the faregates and an underground passageway to go up to the platform. On the Lee St. entrance (on the west side of station), you go through faregates and there is a bus to rail on your left, then the passageway goes under the street. From the other side, the passageway goes under the street and freight line tracks. The platform has a steel roof over the middle portion. There is a small mezzanine under the platform where the passageways meet. The mezzanine's ceiling is fairly tall. A staircase goes from the center of the mezzanine to the platform. At opposite ends of the mezzanine, there is an escalator, one up, the other down, to the platform.

Lakewood-Fort McPherson. This station is an above grade station, with an island platform between two tracks. It was opened on December 15, 1984. The set up for this station is like many on the East-West line. The way to get to the platform is like at Oakland City, only there is a bridge over the road instead of an underpass. At the west entrance, there is a bus to rail transfer area inside the fare control and stairs to go up the bridge over the street. On the east side the bridge goes over the road and freight tracks and then the faregates are at the mezzanine above the platform. The roof over the bridges, mezzanine, and bus area are gabled with small skylights running periodically down the middle. The roof is red, made of corrugated steel and is supported by beige colored I-beams. It has the appearance of an Aspen Ranch. The ceiling over the platform is supported by I-beams as well with concrete columns.

East Point. The East Point station is below grade level with an island platform between two tracks. It was opened on August 16, 1986. The platform is in a trench similar to Lindbergh Center. The entrance has a mezzanine next to a bus to rail transfer area. The I-beams supporting the roof are painted red.

College Park. Below grade level, with one island platform between two tracks. It opened on June 18, 1988. An interesting feature of this station is that the platform is narrower at the north end and wider at the south end, presumably to allow room for the yard leads just south of the station. The narrowing of the platform is most apparent at the north end of the platform. The platform is brick and columns and roof are made of concrete. There is a bus area within fare control in the mezzanine.

There are two track that turnout south of the College Park station which are yard leads to the South yard. In combination with the yard lead at the Airport station, a train can be completely turned around without the use of a loop track.

Airport. The Airport station is elevated, with an island platform between two tracks. This station is the southern terminus of the North-South Line. It was opened on June 18, 1988. Since all trains are northbound from here, the island platform is set up such that the "southbound" side is for Doraville trains and the "northbound" side is for North Springs trains. The roof is steel and the wall on the southbound side has glass along the whole length. You can see an airport parking lot and flags of different nations that are outside. If you go to both ends of the platform, you can see the curbside drop off area for cars. The mezzanine on the lower level has the faregates and is inside the airport terminal. There is a Delta Airlines check-in next to the faregates outside the paid area in the mezzanine. There is a huge concrete column in the middle of the paid area.

It is interesting to note that there is a turnout yard lead track (designated YA) to the South Yard at the Airport station which enables the Operations Dept. to place trains into service from the Airport station.

The Airport station was built during the construction of the airport which opened on September 21, 1980. This allowed MARTA to build the aerial structures to the station platform and open the station in an expeditious manner. The aerial structure south of the station platform ends at two friction buffers or bumper posts and curves away from the airport runway to meet FAA requirements. These tail tracks are not used for service and only serve the purpose of allowing to trains to have safe braking distance if they overrun the station platform.

The Atlanta airport has a people mover system as well. Some pictures of it are on a separate page.

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