AN MD-80S CAPT RPTED THAT HE WAS CLRED TO CROSS THE RWY AT STL AND WAS ASSURED A METROLINER IN POS WOULD HOLD. AS HE CROSSED; THE METROLINER INITIATED THE TKOF ROLL; BUT THEN REJECTED UPON SEEING THE MD-80S.

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WHILE TAXIING OUT FOR TKOF AT STL; WE WERE HOLDING SHORT OF RWY 30L AT TXWY R. WE WERE TOLD TO SWITCH TO CLRNC DELIVERY FOR A RERTE TO ORD. THE FO WAS ON THE CLRNC FREQ WHILE I MONITORED GND CTL. GND ASKED US; BY FLT NUMBER; IF WE WERE UP AND I ROGERED THAT WE WERE. HE THEN TOLD US TO CROSS RWY 30L AND THAT ANOTHER ACR'S METROLINER WOULD BE HOLDING IN POS. SINCE WE WERE DOING A #1 ENG TAXI; BECAUSE OF A WHEELS-UP TIME; WE WERE SLOW TO MOVE FORWARD. JUST AS THE ACFT STARTED TO MOVE FORWARD; I SAW THE METROLINER; IN POS; ACCELERATE FOR TKOF. I STOPPED THE ACFT JUST OVER THE HOLD SHORT LINE BUT CLR OF THE RWY. AS I STOPPED; GND CALLED US TO HOLD SHORT AND I OBSERVED THE METROLINER RAPIDLY COME TO A STOP. I ASKED WHAT WAS GOING ON AND THEY REPLIED 'WE ARE SORTING IT OUT.' AFTER 2 MINS OR SO; THE METROLINER WAS CLRED FOR TKOF AND WE CONTINUED OUR TAXI ACROSS RWY 30L. THOUGH THE FO WAS OFF FREQ; THAT WAS NOT A FACTOR IN THIS INCIDENT. BUT STILL; IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH BETTER TO HAVE 2 SETS OF EYEBALLS OUTSIDE INSTEAD OF 1. MY COMMENT ON ATC PROCS IS; SINCE WE HAD ALMOST A 25 MIN DELAY/WHEELS-UP TIME; WHY WOULD THEY HAVE US SWITCH TO GET A NEW CLRNC; HOLDING SHORT OF AN ACTIVE RWY VICE WAITING UNTIL WE WERE ACROSS AND ON A PARALLEL TXWY BTWN THE 2 RWYS? OUR FLT THEN DEPARTED ABOUT 25 MINS AFTER THE INCIDENT WITH NO FURTHER PROBS.