Metro Transit, the public transit operator in the

Greater St. Louis Greater St. Louis is the 23rd-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States, the largest in Missouri, and the second-largest in Illinois. Its core city—St. Louis, Missouri—sits in the geographic center of the metro area, ...

area, operates two

rail yards A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or ...

for the MetroLink

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

system, four bus depots for

MetroBus Metrobus may refer to: Transport services Bus Rapid Transit *MetroBus (Bristol), a bus rapid transit system in Bristol, England, United Kingdom *Metrobus (Buenos Aires), a bus rapid transit system in Buenos Aires, Argentina *Metrobus (Istanbul), a ...

and

Metro Call-A-Ride Metro Call-A-Ride is a paratransit service operated by Metro Transit that serves parts of Greater St. Louis. In , the service had an annual ridership of 278,900, or about 1,400 per weekday as of . Service Metro Call-A-Ride serves passengers in the ...

services, and one streetcar barn for the

Loop Trolley The Loop Trolley is a , 10-station heritage streetcar line in and near the Delmar Loop area of greater St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It opened for service in 2018, then shut down in 2019 after revenue fell far short of projections. Servic ...

Rail

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

The Ewing Yard and Shops are located near downtown St. Louis. The complex is bounded by Jefferson Avenue to the east, Scott Avenue to the north, Ewing Avenue to the west, and

Terminal Railroad A switching and terminal railroad is a freight railroad company whose primary purpose is to perform local switching services or to own and operate a terminal facility. Switching is a type of operation done within the limits of a yard. It gener ...

right-of-way to the south. This facility opened with the initial alignment in 1993 and was built on a former railroad storage and maintenance facility that served

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

until it closed in 1978. 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. Metro will expand the Ewing Yard and Shops to maintain light rail vehicles for the proposed Green Line MetroLink expansion.

29th Street Yard and Shops

The 29th Street Yard and Shops are located in East St. Louis,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and opened in 2001 with the St. Clair County MetroLink extension. The complex sits on reclaimed industrial property along abandoned right-of-way from the St. Louis and O'Fallon Railway. 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.

Sarah Yard

Opened in 2002, Sarah is a 2,000 square foot storage yard near the

Cortex Cortex or cortical may refer to: Biology * Cortex (anatomy), the outermost layer of an organ ** Cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the vertebrate cerebrum, part of which is the ''forebrain'' *** Motor cortex, the regions of the cerebral cortex i ...

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. Prior to construction of the Cortex station the site featured a historic

Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...

signal tower. The tower was demolished in 2017 to allow the MetroLink alignment to shift slightly north for the new station.

Loop Trolley Barn

The Loop Trolley maintains its two streetcars at 5875 Delmar Boulevard, in a building that had been Delmar High School until 1980.

Bus

Metro Transit operates three garages for MetroBus:

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.

DeBaliviere Garage

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

Illinois Garage

The Illinois garage opened in 1984 and is roughly 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 The St. Clair County Transit District (SCCTD) is a transit district that serves fifteen townships in St. Clair County, Illinois, a suburban county southeast of St. Louis. Operation of bus and light rail service is contracted to Metro Transit (St. L ...

Maintenance

Central

Central opened in 1983 in Midtown St. Louis and has 321,000 square feet of space. 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. In 2022, Metro opened its real-time camera center at this facility as part of the Secure Platform Plan. Central sits on the former site of

Red Stocking Baseball Park Red Stocking Base-Ball Park or Compton Avenue Park was a baseball grounds in St. Louis, Missouri. It was home to the St. Louis Red Stockings of the National Association (NA) during the 1875 season, so it is considered a major league ballpark by ...

Swansea

Swansea is a 16,690 square foot facility in a former strip mall. It is located at the

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

MetroLink station and provides workspace and storage for the agency's Metro East crews.

References

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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Metro Transit (St. Louis) yards and depots Metro Transit (St. Louis) MetroLink (St. Louis) infrastructure Rail yards in Missouri MetroLink (St. Louis) yards and shops