Route Description
The Blue Line branch starts in Shrewsbury just west of River des Peres. It crosses over Interstate 44 and the continues north to the next two stations located in Maplewood; one at the Sunnen Industrial Complex, the other over at Manchester Road. The line then continues further north to the Brentwood I-64 station located in Brentwood just south of Interstate 64. It then proceeds in a tunnel just underneath Interstate 64, continuing to the Richmond Heights station in Richmond Heights. This station serves the popular St. Louis Galleria shopping center. The line then proceeds on a sharp turn east to Clayton Central station in the median of Forest Park Parkway in Clayton where it serves the Central Business District of St. Louis County. It heads further east into a tunnel opening where there is a station underneath Forsyth Boulevard and Big Bend Boulevard in University City where it serves Washington University . After crossing the St. Louis City/County boundary, the branch makes its last stop right under Skinker Boulevard in St. Louis City. The Blue Line now joins with the Red Line at Forest Park-DeBaliviere station as the Shared Alignment. The Blue Line terminates at Fairview Heights station in Fairview Heights. Much of the southern half of the Blue Line follows a former TRRA/Rock Island railroad right of way that ran from BNSF's junction with the Cuba and River Subdivisons (known as Southeastern junction) to what is now I-170 Business Center in St. John. The current stretch of line from Forest Park to Clayton Stations was known as the Forsyth branch until Rock Island abandoned it in 1931. The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) used the portion from Clayton Station onward, as well as the rest of the portion from St. John to Clayton until 1987 when the portion from Big BEnd to Olive Boulevard was severed to the lack of customers on that stretch. This was known as TRRA's Central Belt. The rest of the track was removed in 2002 just prior to construction on the Blue Line. All that remains of the original Central Belt is the portion north from Rock Island Junction near Overland, MO (where the Central Belt crossed the junction between TRRA's West Belt and the Missouri Central (now Central Midland) Railway, to just a fifth of a mile past Page Avenue where less than 10 industries still use TRRA.
Read more about this topic: Blue Line (St. Louis Metro Link)
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