MAX Red Line

MAX Red Line
A Red Line train approaching Parkrose/Sumner Transit Center
Overview
Other name	Airport MAX
Owner	TriMet
Locale	Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Termini	Hillsboro Airport/​Fairgrounds (west) Portland Airport (east)
Stations	36
Website	MAX Red Line
Service
Type	Light rail
System	MAX Light Rail
Operator	TriMet
Daily ridership	17,390 (Weekday, September 2024)
History
Opened	September 10, 2001 (2001-09-10)
Technical
Line length	5.5 mi (8.9 km)
Number of tracks	2
Character	At-grade, elevated, and underground
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 750 V DC
Route diagram Westside MAX Hillsboro Airport/​Fairgrounds Hawthorn Farm Orenco Quatama Willow Creek/SW 185th Ave Transit Center Elmonica/​SW 170th Ave Merlo Rd/​SW 158th Ave Beaverton Creek Millikan Way Beaverton Central Beaverton Transit Center US 26 Sunset Highway Sunset Transit Center Washington Park Goose Hollow/SW Jefferson St Providence Park I-405 11th Avenue loop tracks B NS (SW 11th Ave) A NS (SW 10th Ave) Galleria/​SW 10th Ave Library/​SW 9th Ave Pioneer Square North Pioneer Square South Portland Transit Mall (SW 6th Ave) Portland Transit Mall (SW 5th Ave) Morrison/​SW 3rd Ave Yamhill District Oak St/SW 1st Ave Old Town/​Chinatown Portland Transit Mall (NW Glisan St) Steel Bridge over Willamette River Interstate MAX Rose Quarter Transit Center I-5 Convention Center B (NE Grand Ave) A (NE 7th Ave) NE 7th Ave Lloyd Center/NE 11th Ave Hollywood/NE 42nd Ave NE 60th Ave NE 82nd Ave I-84 I-205 Eastside MAX Gateway/NE 99th Ave Transit Center Gateway North I-84 I-205 Parkrose/​Sumner Transit Center I-205 Cascades Mt Hood Ave Portland Airport

The MAX Red Line is a light rail line serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Operated by TriMet as part of MAX Light Rail, it is an airport rail link connecting Hillsboro, Beaverton, Portland City Center, and Northeast Portland to Portland International Airport. The Red Line serves 36 stations; it shares its route with the Blue Line from Hillsboro Airport/Fairgrounds station to Gateway Transit Center and then branches off to Portland Airport station. Service runs for 22 hours per day with headways of up to 15 minutes. The Red Line carried an average 17,390 passengers per weekday in September 2024, the second busiest after the Blue Line.

Plans for light rail service to Portland International Airport surfaced in the 1980s, and efforts were accelerated during the airport's expansion in the 1990s. The Airport MAX project was conceived from an unsolicited proposal by Bechtel in 1997, and it was designed and built under a public–private partnership between a consortium of Bechtel and Trammell Crow, the Port of Portland, and local governments. Construction of the four-station, 5.5-mile (8.9 km) branch line began in 1999 and was completed in under two years due to the use of local and private financing and existing public right-of-way.

The Red Line began operating between the airport and downtown Portland on September 10, 2001. It was extended west along existing MAX tracks to Beaverton Transit Center in 2003. In 2024, the A Better Red project eliminated two single-track segments along the Airport MAX and extended Red Line service farther west to Hillsboro Airport and Westside Commons, formerly Washington County Fairgrounds, in Hillsboro.