PORTLAND, Ore. — TriMet's MAX Red Line will face disruptions every night for six days, from Sunday, June 16 through Friday, June 1, so that TriMet can test its new Type 6 trains.
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Stations between the Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center and the Portland International Airport will be disrupted each night from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. During that time, shuttle buses will commute back and forth between the two stations to serve riders at the closed stations.
"To lessen the impact on riders, we're limiting the disruption to evenings and the overnight hours when ridership is lower," TriMet said in a news release.
The MAX Blue, Green, Orange and Yellow lines will not be impacted. The Red Line will continue to run between the Gateway and Beaverton Transit Center stations.
These disruptions are due to TriMet conducting trials of its latest generation of MAX trains, the Type 6.
While the exterior of these new trains does not look much different than the current generation of MAX trains, the Type 6 boasts new and improved features on the interior, including:
- Updated digital signs to display the next approaching MAX station
- Better temperature control for Portland's cold winters and hot summers
- New LED lights with visual displays of when doors are available or unavailable as a better visual aid for riders
- Improved LED headlights with longer lasting battery
- Better reliability when it comes to trouble shooting maintenance issues by using what TriMet refers to as "predictive maintenance"
- Improved on-board cameras
TriMet plans to implement these Type 6 trains into regular rotation sometime in 2024.
After June 21, Red Line routes will go back to regular scheduling.
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