Metro Transit's Hiawatha light-rail line officially renamed 'Metro Blue'

The Twin Cities' Hiawatha light-rail line now is officially called the Metro Blue Line, Metro Transit officials have announced.

The Metro Blue Line is the first of Metro Transit's system of rapid transit lines that also will include Metro Red Line Bus Rapid Transit on Cedar Avenue (as of June 22) and Metro Green Line light rail between downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul (as of mid-2014), agency officials said in a press release.

Metro Blue Line trains now feature three cars and run every 10 minutes throughout most of the day. Twelve new light-rail vehicles dedicated to the line have made the increased service capacity possible, Metro Transit officials said.

The line marked its highest annual ridership in history — 10.5 million — in 2012. With an average of 31,000 riders boarding each weekday, the line is exceeding ridership projections for 2020 by nearly 30 percent, agency officials said.