MARTA Rail Stations - Historical Timeline

Historical Timeline

This is a list of key dates which led to the formation of the MARTA stations along the established rapid rail lines.

• June 30, 1979 -- MARTA's first train, the East Line, began operating between Avondale and Five Points Station. It also marked the start of MARTA's combined bus and rail service.

• December 22, 1979 -- MARTA's second train, the West Line, began operating between Hightower (H.E. Holmes) and Five Points Station.

• September 1982 -- the Peachtree Center and West End stations, along the North Line began service.

• December 1982 -- the Arts Center and Midtown stations began service.

• December 1984 -- five new stations opened: Lindbergh Center, Lenox, Brookhaven, Oakland City and Lakewood/Fort McPherson. The South Line was introduced.

• August 1986 -- the East Point Station opened, extending the South Line by about two miles. A little more than a year later, the Chamblee Station began service and served as the temporary end of the Northeast Line.

• June 18, 1988 --- the Airport Station opens, and becomes the southern termini of the North-South Line.

• December 12, 1992 -- The Bankhead Station/Proctor Creek Line went into service.

• December 29, 1992 -- The Doraville Station opens and becomes the northern termini of the Northeast Line.

• June 26, 1993 -- MARTA extended East Line services through Kensington to Indian Creek Station - the first time the rail line went beyond the I-285 perimeter.

• June 8, 1996 -- MARTA extended North Line services through Buckhead, Medical Center and Dunwoody Stations.

• 1999 -- MARTA announced a partnership with BellSouth to create the Lindbergh Transit Oriented Development (TOD), a live, work and play community built around a rail station and the largest multi-use development of its kind in the United States at the time.

• December 16, 2000 -- MARTA opened two new rail stations - Sandy Springs and North Springs -on the North Line.

• October 1, 2009 -- MARTA renames its lines based on colors instead of directions.

• February 2010 -- MARTA agrees to rename the Yellow Line as the Gold Line in response to outcry from members of the Doraville Asian community.