List of Metro Transit (St. Louis) yards and depots

Metro Transit, the public transit operator in the Greater St. Louis area, operates two rail yards for the MetroLink light rail system, four bus depots for MetroBus and Metro Call-A-Ride services, and one streetcar barn for the Loop Trolley.

Ewing Yard with some SD-400 and SD-460 cars

Rail

 

Ewing Yard seen from Jefferson Avenue

Metro operates two rail yards and shops that maintain its SD-400 and SD-460 light rail vehicles, a storage yard, and one streetcar barn for the Loop Trolley:

Ewing Yard and Shops

Ewing Yard and Shops (also known as Jefferson Avenue Yard) is located near downtown St. Louis. It is bounded by Jefferson Avenue to the east, Scott Avenue to the north, Ewing Avenue to the west, and Terminal Railroad right-of-way to the south. This yard opened with the initial alignment in 1993 and was built on a former railroad storage and maintenance facility that served Union Station until it closed in 1978.^[1]

The yard covers 12-acres that can accommodate 50 light rail vehicles and includes a 71,000 square foot main shop building. Other facilities include a car wash bay, a running repair track, a truck shop, a break and coupler shop, an HVAC shop, and a pantograph shop. In addition, Ewing houses MetroLink's Operational Control Center (OCC), bus communications, and public safety dispatch.^[2]

Metro will expand the Ewing Yard and Shops to maintain light rail vehicles for the proposed Green Line MetroLink expansion.^[3][4]

29th Street Yard and Shops

29th Street Yard and Shops (also known as Jackie Joyner-Kersee Yard) is located in East St. Louis, Illinois. This yard opened in 2001 with the St. Clair County MetroLink extension. It sits on reclaimed industrial property along abandoned right-of-way from the St. Louis and O'Fallon Railway.^[5]

The yard covers 15-acres that can accommodate 48 light rail vehicles and includes a 51,800 square foot main shop building. This facility has similar repair shops to Ewing and also includes a two track light rail vehicle painting facility that Metro opened in 2009 at a cost of $1.1 million.^[2][6]

Sarah Yard

Opened in 2002, Sarah is a 2,000 square foot storage yard near the Cortex MetroLink station. It is primarily used to store spare right-of-way components for MetroLink and was used as a staging area for construction of the Cortex station.^[7][8] Prior to construction of the Cortex station the site featured a historic Wabash Railroad signal tower. The tower was demolished in 2017 to allow the MetroLink alignment to shift slightly north for the new station.^[9]

Loop Trolley Barn

The Loop Trolley maintains its three streetcars at 5875 Delmar Boulevard, in a building that had been Delmar High School until 1980.^[10][11]

Bus

Metro Transit operates three garages for MetroBus:^[12]

Brentwood Garage

The Brentwood garage opened in 1983 and is located in central St. Louis County. The 281,066 square foot facility includes infrastructure to charge and maintain Metro's electric bus fleet.^[13][14]

DeBaliviere Garage

The DeBaliviere garage is a 351,993 square foot facility that opened in 1986 and also includes infrastructure for electric buses.^[15][16] Prior to the Bi-State Development agency suspending streetcar service in 1966, the location of today's DeBaliviere Garage was an outdoor streetcar yard.^[17]

Illinois Garage

The Illinois garage opened in 1984 and is roughly 1.4 miles (2.3 km) from the 29th Street rail yard in East St. Louis. The 287,255 square foot facility serves buses that run on routes sponsored by the St. Clair County Transit District.^[15]

Maintenance

Central

Central opened in 1983 in Midtown St. Louis and has 321,000 square feet of space.^[13] Metro conducts heavy repairs across various fleets at this facility including: engine, transmission, and body repairs. It is also the primary shop for Metro's Call-A-Ride service and non-revenue vehicles.^[18] In 2022, Metro opened its real-time camera center at this facility as part of the Secure Platform Plan.^[19]

Central sits on the former site of Red Stocking Baseball Park.

Swansea

Swansea is a 16,690 square foot facility in a former strip mall. It is located at the Swansea MetroLink station and provides workspace and storage for the agency's Metro East crews.^[8]

See also

• List of MetroLink (St. Louis) stations

References

1. (PDF). US Department of Transportation. p. 2-26. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
2. "Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan" (PDF). East-West Gateway Council of Governments. March 31, 2022. pp. 29–30. (PDF) from the original on September 22, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
3. Schlinkmann, Mark (2024-01-18). "Cost of MetroLink expansion in St. Louis now predicted to be $1.1 billion". STLtoday.com. from the original on 2024-02-06. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
4. "About". MetroLink Green Line. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
5. "Our History". www.altonsouthern.com. from the original on 2023-06-05. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
6. . Nextstopstl.org. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
7. "Transit Asset Management Plan FY2018" (PDF). East-West Gateway Council of Governments. October 8, 2018. p. 56. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
8. "Transit Asset Management Plan FY2022" (PDF). East-West Gateway Council of Governments. September 21, 2022. p. 73. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
9. Bose, Richard (2017-08-18). "Demo Alert: Wabash Signal Tower". NextSTL. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
10. Thorsen, Leah (March 24, 2017). "Loop Trolley testing to start early Sunday". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. from the original on March 26, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
11. "Worldwide Review [regular news section]". Tramways & Urban Transit. UK: Light Rail Transit Association. April 2017. p. 152. ISSN 1460-8324.
12. "System Addresses". Metro Transit – Saint Louis. from the original on 2023-09-24. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
13. "Transit Asset Management Plan FY2022" (PDF). East-West Gateway Council of Governments. September 21, 2022. p. 71. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
14. "Electric Buses". Metro Transit – Saint Louis. from the original on 2023-05-19. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
15. "Transit Asset Management Plan FY2022" (PDF). East-West Gateway Council of Governments. September 21, 2022. p. 72. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
16. Lindsey (2022-03-23). "Metro Transit Awarded $4M Grant to Expand Electric Bus Program". Metro Transit – Saint Louis. from the original on 2023-10-02. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
17. "History". Metro Transit – Saint Louis. from the original on 2023-09-14. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
18. "Transit Asset Management Plan FY2022" (PDF). East-West Gateway Council of Governments. September 21, 2022. p. 69. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
19. "Secure Platform Plan Project". Metro Transit – Saint Louis. Retrieved September 15, 2023.

External links

• Metro – Official website for Metro Transit
• Bi-State Development – Official website for Bi-State Development
• St. Clair County Transit District – Official website for the St. Clair County Transit District