Airport MAX

Station-By-Station

The Red Line shares tracks with the Blue Line between Beaverton Transit Center and Gateway Transit Center. For these shared stations, please see the Blue Line section. For this tour, we'll start at Gateway Transit Center and ride north to the Airport.

At Gateway, red line trains traveling to the airport arrive on track 1, the eastbound track and platform (shared with the Blue Line). Red Line trains heading into Portland or Beaverton use the center track, known as track A. City Center-bound trains use Track A in order to access Gateway's center "Island" platform, allowing riders to directly switch to Blue Line trains traveling farther east. (only Blue Line trains use Track 2 at Gateway, and doors open onto both the westbound and center platforms)

South of Gateway, a switch takes Red Line trains onto a single-tracked loop bridge. Trains use this bridge to cross over the I-205/I-84 westbound ramp, settling onto the east shoulder of I-205. This is very tight curve which slows trains to under 15 MPH. This bridge was built to allow Red Line trains to continue into Portland without the operator having to switch cabs at Gateway.

Speed is increased once the train hits the straightaway just after this turn. Trains pass under the Mainline flyover and over I-84 on this single-tracked stretch. At Rocky Butte, the tracks branch and duck under I-205's northbound lanes. From here, trains run in the median of I-205, the northern part of an unused "transitway" built with I-205.

The first station is Parkrose/Sumner Transit Center at Sandy Blvd. This island platform station is connected to the bus transit center over I-205's northbound lanes by a unique "fish/bird" bridge. This structure is so named, as that from certain angles the bridge looks like a fish or a bird. Parkrose/Sumner was added to the Airport MAX line after the surrounding neighborhoods requested it. Also TriMet wisely shifted some bus services and built a park and ride lot here to relieve congestion at Gateway TC.

Continuing north, the Red Line zips across I-205's southbound lanes using a flyover bridge. Trains then descend into the Cascade station development, the area Bechtel was granted to develop in exchange for funding Airport MAX. So far, no major construction on this site has occurred, but streets and landscaping have been completed in anticipation of the new development.

Two stations will serve this development: Cascades and Mt. Hood Avenue. Cascades remains closed and unfinished, as nothing has been built around it yet. Mt. Hood Avenue was opened with Airport MAX due to its proximity to business parks and a hotel. There are some good views from this station of its namesake mountain. Portland Airport's south runway is less than a mile away, and you can watch planes taking off and landing here.

The tracks narrow down to a single track after Mt. Hood Avenue, then curve to follow Airport Way to the PDX terminal. Both single-tracked sections on the Red Line are designed to allow 10 minute headways if needed. The line ends at Airport station, a wedge-shaped "island" platform. The tracks divide here to allow two trains to be in the station at once. The main ticketing and airline check-in concourse is only a few steps and an escalator ride away from where trains drop passengers off. Ticket machines and information is located on the lower level inside the airport. TriMet customer relations workers are also around in busier times to assist those who may be unfamiliar with the system. Due to stricter federal regulations regarding airports with "train-to-plane" service, trains laying over are not to be left unattended. The rules inside the airport also apply on this platform and aboard the trains parked here: Luggage or items left unattended are subject to search and/or seizure.