Orange Line (Capital Metro)
The Orange Line is a proposed north-south light rail line that will serve the central spine of Austin from North Lamar to Stassney Lane. It is in the planning stages as a part of Capital Metro's Project Connect. It is estimated to begin revenue service as early as 2028. History. A contract for preliminary engineering work along the line was approved on March 20, 2019. In 2020, the planned route was truncated in length to reduce construction costs, with bus bridges providing connectivity through the rest of the corridor. Potential future phases may extend  the line north to Tech Ridge and south to Slaughter as initially envisioned — those alignments are expected to be included in National Environmental Policy Act processing to allow for conversion to light rail in the future. Route. The Orange Line is long and will run in its own dedicated transitway, including the Downtown Transit Tunnel, which will allow it to bypass the traffic that plagues the corridor it follows. The Orange Line will operate from North Lamar Transit Center to Stassney & Congress, and will follow the current route of the Capital MetroRapid 801 or a similar alignment. It is planned  to run along The Drag. Future extensions to the line would feature stations at Tech Ridge, Parmer, Braker, Rundberg, William Cannon, and Slaughter. Stations. Stations are listed north to south.