ATLANTA – The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) celebrated the opening of its largest rail maintenance and storage facility during a dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony on May 23, 2005. The facility will allow MARTA to maintain and store a recently expanded 338 rail car fleet.
The Armour Yard Rail Service Facility, located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Piedmont Road and Interstate 85, will maintain and store over 100 rail cars on 12,000 feet of track. The 33-acre state-of-the-art facility includes a 208,000-square-foot 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. The facility also includes a bypass track and lead tracks that connect to MARTA’s north line, and trackway to serve the site’s Maintenance and Overhaul Facility.
“We are very excited to open this new facility, which we believe will prove to be a significant addition not only to MARTA, but to the region’s transportation infrastructure. Armour Yard’s state-of-the-art work flow features will allow us to streamline rail operations, and therefore provide better service to all of our customers,” said MARTA General Manager/CEO Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr.
Using sustainable designs, MARTA constructed the facility to both preserve land and minimize environmental impact, including onsite treatment and recycling of the facility’s waste water, storm water pollution controls, and waste water contamination controls. The facility was also designed to accommodate possible future transportation projects in the region such as light rail and streetcar service.
Armour Yard will generate millions operating cost savings for MARTA, reducing “deadhead miles” for rail cars during routine maintenance and service interruptions and making train dispatching more efficient. In addition, MARTA will have the capability to perform heavy repair work in-house previously not possible.
