Charlotte's Light Rail Network Evolution

From its beginning in 2007, Charlotte's light rail network has grown to 42 stations, spanning 23 miles (37 kilometers). This animated video takes you through the timeline of when new stations were opened, forming the CATS network that we know today.
🐦 Ask us questions on Twitter: / vanishingunder
☑️ Video Criteria:
- Population given is the sum of all counties and independent cities with stations in them.
- Future extensions are shown only if a construction tender has been awarded for their completion, at the time of video publication. If a construction tender has been issued for a project not included in the video, feel free to leave a comment, and we'll add it to our list to update.
- If you find an error, feel free to let us know in the comments. Please include links to any sources that will help us correct the error. Note: comments with links might take up to 24 hours to appear due to KZbin anti-spam policies.
📸 Image Credits:
- Doug Letterman - originally posted to Flickr as East/West Blvd, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikime...
- Patriarca12 at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, commons.wikime...
- Patriarca12 - Own work, CC BY 3.0, commons.wikime...
- Justin Ruckman - originally posted to Flickr as light rail, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikime...
- Patriarca12 - Own work, CC BY 3.0, commons.wikime...
- CC BY 2.5, en.wikipedia.o...
- Doug Letterman - originally posted to Flickr as Charlotte Light Rail Station, CC BY 2.0, www.flickr.com...
- David Wilson - originally posted to Flickr as 20110924 11 CATS Lynx Light Rail, Charlotte, NC, CC BY 2.0, www.flickr.com...
- Brandon Dolley - originally posted to Flickr as Charlotte, www.flickr.com...
🖼 Thumbnail designed by jacobestrella.com​/
🚋 #CATS
Charlotte LYNX Blue Line light rail
Charlotte LYNX Gold Line streetcar

[@ishanlamba4341]

Coming from the DC, I realize now just how spoiled we are with the Metro, despite how much we criticize it. This seems cute to me

[@JoeyLovesTrains]

Not gonna lie, I’ve never heard bad things about the DC metro

[@MrJstorm4]

@@JoeyLovesTrains "no one uses the Metro anymore it's too crowded"

[@CharlotteDrillsAndBeefs]

@@JoeyLovesTrains Trust me, the teens are ruthless. Especially on the Green Line. They will attack you unprovokly if they're in groups, and there's like 50 gate jumpers ever hour.

[@kertchu]

@@MrJstorm4 lol

[@Classy4514]

That light rail shit in Charlotte is wack nobody uses its a waste 🗑.

[@scpatl4now]

CLT has some ambitious expansion plans as well with an E/W silver line and a gold and blue extensions. There is also a proposed Red line running north

[@bernards8050]

Thanks for your videos. I was involved in Charlotte, Norfolk, Denver, San Diego, Boston Blue Line, Houston, Portland, Sacramento, SMART (California), Virginia Rail Express and Minneapolis. I helped to prepare the station announcement database of audio and text messages along the routes for these projects.

[@PColumbus73]

I've ridden the Blue Line while visiting Charlotte, it's a really good experience and is a lot easier than trying to find parking downtown

[@bradleydilks6376]

Great overview of the system. I started using the system once the extension to UNC Charlotte opened for work. Excited to try out the upgraded Gold line street car as I used the original line to access restaurant options and now with the new line it will expand those options with a much better ride. Something unique about the Gold line is the street cars will run off battery only for a portion of the line in Uptown.

[@tylerkochman1007]

Not entirely unique, at the moment. Systems like those in Rio and Detroit use similar setups, I believe.

[@robertcrafton7187]

There is a reason I always look forward to Sunday mornings. This channel.

[@MrJamieBattle]

One of my favorite light rails. My hometown light rail in Norfolk uses similar trains but hasn’t expanded since opening in 2011.

[@GenericUrbanism]

Glad you like Charlottes Light Rail. Here in Charlotte, the city wants to expand the gold line streetcar.

[@urbanpreppie05]

zack- again, thank you for these videos. i really wish people would stop criticizing the speed and selection of what he releases.

[@harrisonofcolorado8886]

My Dad at one point around maybe 2014/15 used to go on business trips to Charlotte. One day He came back from a trip with a video of a passing light rail train and I was interested since I didn't know until that point that Charlotte had a light rail system.

[@JonathanFritz3757]

And it's getting bigger! In 15 years, if all goes without delay, the system will be 2 or 3 times the present size.

[@bobbyswanson3498]

the clt blue line is one of my favorite transit experiences. stations and trains are really clean and well kept. really excited and hopeful for the silver line and the next phase of the gold line

[@TheCloakedTiger]

Nice to see more and more cities investing in transit. Still a long way to go but it will definitely come in handy in the long run...

[@terencehill2320]

So when are you discussing the Norfolk, Virginia's Light Rail

[@yoyobass100]

You forgot to mention that in the future the LYNX Silver Line is proposed to serve more areas in the Charlotte metro area including the airport which will possibly replace the airport bus.

[@QuarioQuario54321]

So what's next? If it's Bay Area likely Bart. If it isn't, my guesses are DFW, MSP, or Portland. SeaTac will likely come in October and Phoenix whenever the tempe streetcar opens. The remaining big cities seem to be in order Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York. Not sure where Connecticut commuter rail will show up. It'll likely either be by itself or lumped into the same video as metro north.

[@QuarioQuario54321]

After Philadelphia (which I assume will be split subway(possibly including PATCO and parts of the subway surface trolleys)/regional rail (possible including the Atlantic City line and River Line) I assume Chicago will be the next big city. That or Seattle.

[@hectorreyes1934]

Great vid man please keep up the good work 😁👍 Is there going to be a NYC timeline for the subway??

[@SpaceboyYT]

He will do that at the end of the year.

[@hectorreyes1934]

@@SpaceboyYT oh ok ty for letting me know

[@blackpanda7298]

I can’t wait for Eglington line 5 to open in Toronto.

[@JuliosStuff]

almost 200 subs from 10k!

[@guinessbeer]

Can you do one on Seattle?! They have a new extension opening next month.

[@SpaceboyYT]

He has already done that.

[@vicgodsucks1157]

That was a short video!! Hopefully, Charlotte will expand in to the surroundings cities.

[@colormedubious4747]

This system is the CATS meow. Don't get up, I'll show myself out.

[@Adelaide_Transit]

Light rail, trolley, tram, streetcar are all such vague definitions at this point that they are pretty much the same thing,

[@washuotaku]

For Charlotte, "light rail" represented a track-only right-of-way, while the "streetcar" is on the streets in traffic. But you are not wrong, the light rail line uses the Siemens S70, while the streetcar uses the Siemens S700, which is a little more compact but basically the same.

[@johnathanl2663]

I watch these videos to relax

[@yokiionii8888]

I use to live in Charlotte so I know this very well

[@mt_xing]

Did y'all just call uptown downtown?

[@frontrunners634]

Hey VU would it be a good idea for you to do a video on the Astoria trolley? I really like the small network and it would be cool if you can do a video focusing on it, thanks!

[@ermerendovasquez1768]

Love the videos, please if you can do Portland next!

[@Conellossus]

Great video! Now give us BART!

[@daveland3183]

I second that!

[@tonyyee86]

Third that motion!

[@AVeryRandomPerson]

It's 60% done now

[@davidtsvetovat9419]

I love that You can do Portland or the twin cities

[@TrainSounds]

When will there be more?

[@MarceloPlus]

I really like the thumbnail change

[@annwan9557]

Nice vid Do you plan to talk about some European transit systems? Interesting European ones (that I know of) would include the London tube, Paris metro, tram and "RER", Berlin's U-bahn and S-bahn, Amsterdam metro, Lyon (France) metro and tram

[@SpaceboyYT]

They will be made in 2022 and the future years.

[@n1thmusic229]

When is viarail part 3 coming

[@raytylicki9001]

There's a picture of a platform with snow on it

[@andrewtabatabai9590]

When are you doing bart

[@SpaceboyYT]

He said it will release in a week or two.

[@terencehill2320]

When are we going to see the SEPTA's Broad St Line/Market-Frankford Line history?

[@interstate1335]

Yay! New video! Luckily I spam reported a bot on another channel and reloaded to see this! Ahh. I see. Updating thumbnails instead of uploading. Wise decision.

[@garfieldclarkjr2483]

Wasn't there supposed to be an extension or a new line going to the CLT Airport?

[@arandomyoutubechannel2940]

It's part of the proposed silver line. The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) is drafting out the final segments to propose to the public.

[@garfieldclarkjr2483]

@@arandomyoutubechannel2940 ohh oks . and then i heard about a proposed Red Line commuter rail to the northern suburbs

[@arandomyoutubechannel2940]

@@garfieldclarkjr2483 That one is more or less on life support, the original plan was to use the railroad tracks currently owned by Norfolk Southern, but they said no. So far, a few ideas have been battered around such as building a second set of tracks next to the existing tracks, but that would cause many homeowners and businesses to lose their homes, not to mention the cost of building a second line. There was also at one point to convert the line to light rail instead, but the suburb towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, etc raised hell in opposition. So currently the plans for the red line is shelved, worser still is that the same suburb towns that want the red line are now contemplating about not paying the transit tax funding the system expansion because they see it as the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) not giving them transit despite them being the ones rejecting all the alternatives CATS have put forth. It's all completely messed up; Norfolk Southern won't sell trackage rights to CATS because they want to keep the line for themselves, yet they operate their trains on the North Carolina Railroad Company by leasing trackage rights because it's a faster and more direct link to Raleigh from Charlotte (by the way, I live right beside those North carolina Railroad Company train tracks. Back in June 2000, there were like 3-4 trains a day, fast forward to today, there's like 6-7 trains every hour, including Amtrak) www.google.com/url?q=www.ncrr.com/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjN8Oj38OjyAhXIl-AKHQUnDQkQFnoECAMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0WtuqEM9MruMAy_CfTgIKE Also, these suburb towns that want the red line are also being little bitches when it comes to anything but the original proposed commuter rail plan and are now threatening to not fund transit because they didn't get what they wanted despite CATS implementing a temporary solution of providing express bus service to these towns via the controversial I-77 toll lanes.

[@garfieldclarkjr2483]

@@arandomyoutubechannel2940 leave it up to politics to ruin something that could benefit the city and neighboring counties :( A rail link from Downtown Charlotte to the CLT airport could also benefit the AA employees instead of using their cars

[@arandomyoutubechannel2940]

@@garfieldclarkjr2483 Exactly

[@YaoboyProd2K15]

I haven't seen Vanishing Underground returning to his active schedule after this video, it looks like he alr had his break for a month. Hope to upload tons of new content by October.

[@brendanu1680]

This needs an update cause the Red Line is coming soon

[@ewingleon8049]

When will you do Metro North?

[@VanishingUnderground]

Most likely near the end of this year or early next year

[@nehemiaharmstead5979]

Can you make a video a phoenix transit

[@VanishingUnderground]

I’m waiting for the Tempe streetcar to open, so should be this fall hopefully

[@thewheatgreatness]

The Tempe streetcar has been pushed back to spring 2022 because they don't have enough streetcars ready to open the line.

[@snackwrap2011]

My second home lol being that I’m from Brooklyn this wayyyyyy different than mta lol

[@KM-bx6to]

Ooh, fancy new thumbnails

[@allergabiscotti3051]

You know? your next evolution video should be about Waterloo's ion light rail

[@amfm889]

Maybe add music credits in the future?

[@SpaceboyYT]

The intro and outro music used in his older videos was copyrighted and he can’t use it anymore.

[@QuarioQuario54321]

For evolution of MUNI will you show the minor on street tops?

[@larsbotany]

THIS VIDEO FURTHER CONFIRMS THE CURRENT POLICYMAKERS DONT SEE THE VISION FOR THE POSSIBLE TRANSIT OPTIONS THAT CAN BE CREATED IN THIS METROPOLITAN. IM OPTIMISTIC THAT SOMEDAY IN THE FUTURE THEY'LL SEE IT AND START EXPANDING BECAUSE THE AMOUNT OF TRANSPLANTS ARE MOVING THERE IS AWESOME BUT MORE FUNDS FOR ROADS IS SIMPLY NOT THE SMART ANSWER. GOD BLESS THIS REGION.

[@fraudsarentfriends4717]

They are Both Trollies. There is the Blue Line Trolley and the Gold Line Trolley. The word Trolley acknowledges taxpayers paid for the system, not the government.

[@TrainSounds]

Can’t wait till Philadelphia comes

[@raytylicki9001]

Wait it snows in Charlotte NC?

[@Jeto704]

rarely. but it shuts down the city when it does. I've been here for 29 years (transplant from the north) and I still laugh at how people react to snow here.

[@brendanu1680]

Try Doing A City In Idaho!

[@SpaceboyYT]

Unfortunately, there is no Light Rail/Subway/Commuter Rail/Trolley/Streetcar Service in Idaho. Just Buses. However there is Amtrak service in the northern part of Idaho.

[@thewheatgreatness]

@@SpaceboyYT OMG! Even Boise with a metro population of three-quarters of a million doesn't have Amtrak service.

[@AVeryRandomPerson]

In 2009, the Boise Streetcar was proposed. It was cancelled.

[@SpaceboyYT]

@@AVeryRandomPerson Oh.

[@brendanu1680]

@@SpaceboyYT How About He Just Do Busses In Idaho

[@SpaceboyYT]

The Gold Line isn’t running.

[@VanishingUnderground]

It’s restarting tomorrow (August 30). It had a bus replacement service running while it was shut down though

[@SpaceboyYT]

YAY!

[@andrewtabatabai9590]

Pls do muni or bart please

[@allergabiscotti3051]

In case you didn't know, YOU STILL DIDN'T MAKE A EVOLUTION VIDEO OF TORONTO STREETCARS!!

[@VanishingUnderground]

I’m aware… I’ve put it on hiatus for the moment. Check out the channel Metro6 in the meantime for individual Toronto streetcar route histories.

[@thewheatgreatness]

In case you don't know it, METRO6 has not uploaded videos in a while because he has difficulty making his videos more visually appealing.

[@devoncorley6114]

It's time for the riders to go on strike. Us working class are being punished without provocation. Get behind "This ride is paid for" movement. If enough people stand up they'll be forced to listen to the people

[@SoCalBIGmike]

The maps are nice, but it would be much better to actually see the routes IRL along with the livery/ rolling stock.

[@joshuafajardo5697]

🚈

[@davidtsvetovat9419]

A or b

[@davidtsvetovat9419]

Benjamin Williams tell vanishing underground to know what is the next video

[@RobertMullis]

Last I got on a train car in charlotte it smelled of piss

[@Classy4514]

That light rail shit in Charlotte is a big joke nobody uses it a waste of money.

[@GeraldM_inNC]

Basically a useless system, because it runs so infrequently and such limited hours.

[@peterwissemann6746]

Bro wtf r u doing… do NY… u did everything BUT NY?!

[@AVeryRandomPerson]

He's doing NY last

[@AVeryRandomPerson]

He's said this many times

[@chrissoltesz01]

Makes sense to do New York last. I’m sure that will be quite an undertaking.

[@Natalietrans]

This is an ideal model for small sprawling cities