Trolley Thursday 9/30/21 - The Cars of the LA Metro

Welcome, dear riders, to the last Trolley Thursday of September! Sixty-or-so years ago, the Pacific Electric Railway's massive interurban and streetcar fleet dropped from tens of hundreds of varied models all the way to just... one. Today's LA Metro is clearly the opposite of that. Despite having numerous light-rail models and one subway model over their thirty-year existence, Metro's close work with manufacturers in Japan, Germany, and Italy ensures that their light rail fleet is interchangeable and workable through their long lifespans. On today's Trolley Thursday, let's open up the Division Carhouses on all six lines as we look at what makes Los Angeles' LRVs so unique!

True Blue Originals

Four of the original P865s being delivered from the Port of LA by trailer.
(Alan Weeks, Metro TheSource)

The interior of a P865, featuring sideways handicap seating.
(Salaam Allah)

The first new light-rail vehicles (or LRVs) to roll in Los Angeles were the Nippon-Sharyo P865, originally built in Nagoya, Japan, in 1989. Fifty-four were built in two years, Nos. 100-153, and were simply the most state-of-the-art rapid transit car Los Angeles had ever seen. The only thing "primitive" about them were the Tomlinson automatic air-and-relay couplers, derived from a Westinghouse design used on original PE cars. Everything else, such as their drive system, brakes, and controls, were electrically-driven by computers rather than raw relays. The P865s also featured inside-frame trucks like the PCCs of old, as well as electro-pneumatic disc brakes inside the frames, with a magnetic emergency track brake slung between the wheels. With a length of eighty-seven feet, they were just about longer than a Blimp, but this allowed the P865s a maximum "crush load" of one hundred and eighteen people, with seventy-six of those passengers seated. Thus, they were perfectly designed for the rush-hour crowds they would eventually have to face. In the interest of passenger safety, these cars (and all cars going forward), were designed for high-platform boarding, instead of curbside low floors like those in San Diego.

Out of a pile of scrapped P865s, you can see the brake system used on the cars
plain-as-day between the frames.
(Metro TheSource)

Original P865 No. 100 runs with P2020 No. 164 are
caught at El Segundo Station (on the Green Line) on a
special excursion to Metro Division 22, 2021.
(Metro Fan's Productions)

To pay tribute to Los Angeles' transit heritage, the cars were individually christened after cities in LA County with No. 100 being "Long Beach" and No. 144 being "South Gate". Also in tribute was the new paint scheme that Metro (then, the LA Rapid Transit District or RTD) planned on making their new "corporate identity". The cars were white with a black window band with two-tone blue stripes running down the sides. The light blue represented the new line they were serving, the "Blue" Line, while the dark blue represented the Pacific Coast waters outside of their southern terminal of Long Beach. The red represented the Pacific Electric Railway's association with the rebuilt and repurposed Long Beach Line. Inside, the cars were decorated in a simple mist-grey interior with dark linoleum floors and stainless-steel chairs. The motorman (or now, "operators") controlled the cars from a single lever accelerator, which automatically cut the on-board air in and out if the car was speeding up or slowing down. The doors and pantographs were also operated by air, with the latter requiring hand-pumping on startup.

P865 No. 101 is seen at Long Beach later in life, with Metro's then-current 
corporate livery of white and black with a yellow stripe.
(OMF World)

Blue Runner 2020

P2020 No. 158 is caught descending
at Expo Park/USC station, 2012.
(Salaam Allah)

The P865s hadn't even been in service for four years when Metro went back to Nippon Sharyo to order fifteen more P865s, bringing the total fleet number to sixty-nine (nice). Nos. 154-168 made their debut with the opening of the Green Line, still wearing the original RTD colors, and were touted as upgraded P865s. Now called the P2020, they were specially outfitted with automatic control panels due to the Green Line's original plans calling for complete line automation. As this never happened, the P2020s were treated as virtually identical to the P865s and were often seen operating on both light rail lines with their older kin. In 2000, for the 10th anniversary of the Blue Line, P865s Nos. 109 and 148 were painted in a modified PE "Butterfly Livery" by Metro's Division 11 maintenance yard. The cars were even outfitted with a PE "E-flat trombone" air whistle with two-tone green interiors just like the Hollywood Cars they were replicating. The two cars worked in their modified liveries as a "special service" for one year, before being repainted in Metro's new, plainer fleet livery (white with a black window band and yellow stripes).

Metro Nos. 148 (foreground) and 109 run a heritage special train on the Blue Line, July 14, 2000.
(Metro Library & Archive)

No. 148 poses with contemporary Metro No. 150 and an unknown car in RTD colors
at Metro Division 11, July 14, 2000.
(Trolleyville Times)

Metro No. 148 tests out the transit agency's new livery in 2013,
to be introduced on the new P3010s.
(Heidi Zeller)

By 2018, the almost-30-year-old P865s were pulled out of service on the Blue and Green Lines to make way for Metro's newest car at the time, the Kinkisharyo P3010s. The P2020s, having already been bumped off the Green Line by the Siemens P2000s, were relegated to all-Blue Line service until early 2021, when all were delivered to Metro Division 16 for storage and eventual scrapping. Three P865s were briefly retained by Metro for use in filming Marvel's "Captain Marvel", where Nos. 120, 130, and 100 were returned to their RTD livery and made the center of a big fight scene. After filming had wrapped, No. 100 was donated to the City of Long Beach to be the centerpiece of a new heritage park while Nos. 120 and 130 were scrapped. No. 144 was another lucky escapee, being donated to the Southern California Railway Museum of Perris, CA, where it joined and can be seen operating with the PE car types it replaced. Sadly, both PE Metro units, Nos. 109 and 148, were lost. No P2020s survive in preservation.

Behind the scenes of "Captain Marvel" shows three of
the remaining P865s getting one last taste of film immortality.
(Syfy Wire)

I'm Legally Not Allowed to Make a "Siemens" Pun

The only interesting pic of a P2000 I can find, No. 223
celebrating Metro's 25th anniversary on February 23, 2016.
(Snuffy)

Despite being a German company, Siemens AG had an already-established identity in the state of California by the 2000s. In the 1980s, the company set up their Chula Vista headquarters to fulfill a contract under the city of San Diego to build their new LRVs. Now, Los Angeles had come knocking on Siemens' doors with their own contract for new cars on the Green and Gold Lines, to be fulfilled by 2003. The P2000s were a straight upgrade from the P865s and P2020s, boasting faster operating speeds (70MPH versus 55MPH), a longer length (89.5 feet over the couplers), and a higher passenger capacity (one hundred seventy six versus one hundred eighteen). The increased bulk also made the P2000 much safer, as it boasted state-of-the-art crush zones and strong front pillars that contributed to its curving, sloping front. The P2000 made its debut on the Gold Line in 2003, but eventually ran on the Blue, Green, and Expo Lines as they were downgraded due to the introduction of new Gold Line cars after 2011.

Oh wait, found another: Siemens No. 229 is seen in April 2016, testing out
the new Expo Line alignment to Downtown Santa Monica.
(Myself)

Viva La Breda

The Breda A650s, normally not seen outside of subway stations.
(The Port of Authority)

The current, plasticky interior of the Breda A650s.
Due to how the picture's tinted, one can mistake this for the BART.
(Metro96)

While the light rail was busy handling itself, Metro turned to a new manufacturer to create its now-iconic stainless steel subway cars. Between 1988 and 1997, Italian manufacturer Breda (now Hitachi Rail Italy) constructed one hundred and four A650-type subway cars for use on the Red and Purple Lines, becoming the only subway cars currently in use under Los Angeles. Like the Metro cars, which run on 750V DC, the initial subway cars run on a General Electric-developed three-phase AC system, driving four traction motors per car (which are coupled in pairs) and controlled through Westinghouse "Chopper" switches. These "chopper switches" are derived from their operation by interrupting one signal under the control of another, much like the automatic relays under a streetcar. The cars were seventy-five feet long, three feet longer than a Blimp, and featured three rows of doors on either side, with enough sitting and standing room for one hundred and eighty passengers per car. Each train is made up of three married pairs of A650s, giving the trains a total capacity of one thousand, one hundred, and eighty passengers total. 

An A650 mockup graces the entrance of Metro Division 20 on a clear day in 2015.
Out-of-service A650s are just behind it on the storage tracks.
(Charles Fredericks)

Behind the scenes of Speed's blockbuster-ending finale, featuring a 
1/8 scale (7.5" gauge) subway train bursting out of a tunnel site.
(20th Century Fox)

The first order of cars, Nos. 501-530, were put into service upon the Red Line's opening, January 30, 1993, and were soon joined by a second batch beginning in 1995, Nos. 531-604. Since then, the cars have not undergone much need for replacement or major update, running exactly as they have been since 1993. Due to their ubiquity in Los Angeles, they have also been seen in many films and television shows. The most famous of these cameos have been in Volcano starring Tommy Lee Jones (which I've talked about here) and Speed starring Keanu Reeves, which involves a hijacked subway train. Currently, the A650s are slated to be replaced by sixty four new "HR4000" subway cars from Chinese company CRRC Corporation, and these are due to begin replacing the current subway cars by 2021.

A mockup of the new CRRC HR4000, to go into service by the end of 2021.
Like the P3010s, it sports a new yellow-ended livery for added visibility.
(CRRC)

The Breda P2550 in East Los Angeles, showing off its
attractive, Art Deco-inspired exterior.
(Gakei.com)

Breda was also instrumental in creating a replacement for the Siemens P2000s on the Gold Line, the P2250, beginning in 2001. Breda (then AnsaldoBreda) was chosen out of four proposals, the others being from Canada's Bombardier, Japan's Kinkisharyo (not related to Nippon Sharyo), and Siemens. When Bombardier declined and Siemens' proposal was found to not meet requirements, AnsaldoBreda underbid Kinkisharyo and caused LA to order fifty P2550s starting in 2003 (Nos. 701-750). The cars were similar in construction to the subway cars, using a fluted stainless steel side with a fiberglass front that matched the fluting through white stripes. Like the P2000s, the cars are capable of hitting 77 miles per hour and has an absolute crush capacity of two hundred and seventeen people per car, making them the best rush-hour LRVs. Oddly, despite testing on the Blue Line in 2005, the Breda P2250s remain a solid worker of the Gold Line as they were found to be "overweight" on other parts of the system. 

Another Breda 2550 hustles along the Gold Line tracks towards the Arroyo Seco viaduct.
(Myself)

The Pretty P3010s

The last-ordered P3010 proudly touts its "Made in the USA" status outside of Metro Division 16.
(Metro TheSource)

A P3010 test train is sighted through the
sleepy Meridian Ave. alignment on the Gold Line,
the only street-level parallel north of Union Station.
(Singwith)

Due to the P2250s being considered "overweight", Metro turned to runner-up Kinkisharyo to contract a replacement to the aging P865s, P2020s, and P2000s by the mid-2010s. The result of this long-gestating deal was the P3010-series LRVs. Introduced in 2016 on the Expo and Gold Lines, the LRV is currently the most up-to-date on all of Metro's light rail lines, and continues to be so for the foreseeable future. Two hundred and thirty-five LRVs, Nos. 1001-1235, were outshopped by KinkiSharyo's Palmdale, CA, works in 2014, with the first entering service in 2016 to replace the older Nippon Sharyo cars. These cars were much longer, at eighty-nine feet per car, and sat sixty-eight passengers inside, with standees accounting for a crush load of almost two hundred people. For improved crash safety in the front, "blinders" were integrated to the front design to strengthen the "A" pillars (in automotive parlance) to withstand head-on collisions on systems like the Gold and Blue lines. These cars also feature automatic train operation for C line service (which, by my guess, have yet to be implemented), air conditioning, and emergency braking. The P3010s also feature a new, plainer Metro livery of silver with yellow fronts fading into a dotted design, not only emphasizing safety, but returning another of Metro's heritage (the Los Angeles Railway "yellow cars") to LA's city streets and elevated railways.

An LA Metro P3010 is caught approaching Del Mar station on the Gold Line,
on a cold February evening in 2020.
(Myself)

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included a Metro article on the unveiling of the PE units, a Siemens PDF on the P2000s, the Southern California Railway Museum, and the photo credits listed in each caption. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be found under “Motorman Reymond’s Railroad Gif Carhouse”. On Tuesday, we start off the spookiest month by looking at some of the most infamous streetcar accidents in America's history. For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!) Until next time, ride safe!