Trolley Tuesday 9/28/21 - The Lines of the LA Metro

There are some who say that less is more, but not so in rapid transit circles. After all, to move the almost 4 million people who call Los Angeles home, one would need a more substantial mass-transit railway than the six lines we have today. And yet, in the same vein as their predecessors in the Pacific Electric (PE) and Los Angeles Railways (LARy), the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (or LACMTA, just the "Metro" for short) continues to provide the best possible service in a county both supportive, disappointed, and downright hostile to its light rail and subway systems. On today's Trolley Tuesday, we take a brief look at each line and what makes it special after discussing their origins last week, so please grab your TAP card, mind the doors, and enjoy a ride on the Metro!

True Blue History

A basic map of the "Blue Line", as of 2021.
(Ricky Courtney, you have been credited)

PE's famous "Four Tracks" through Watts Junction,
featuring a San Pedro bound train, year unknown.
(Security Pacific National Bank Collection)

The Blue Line (or the "A" Line after 2020) stands as the first, oldest, and most historically significant light rail line in the city of Los Angeles, as its right of way was part of the original PE Long Beach Line built in 1902. After the original Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (LAMTA) closed it in 1961, many traction-happy citizens felt cheated that the best possible rail line to keep (in a time where LA was going freeway-happy) was unceremoniously shut down after numerous promises to keep it open. Thus, many were relieved when Caltrans engineers in the 1980s determined it the best possible route to start rebuilding Los Angeles' streetcar system. To the joy and relief of many Angelenos, both who could still remember the Red Cars or were too young to, the Blue Line opened to massive fanfare on July 14, 1990, restoring LA's rapid transit heritage.

PE No. 1058, owned by certified madman Richard Fellows, poses with its new
contemporary at Pico Station on the Blue Line's opening day, July 14, 1990.
(Metro's Primary Resources)

The Blue Line's 103rd and Watts Station in 2018.
(Bryan's Productions)

The line runs 22 miles between Downtown LA's 7th Street and Metro Center (a major junction for the Blue/A, Expo/E, Red/B, and Purple/D lines) and Downtown Long Beach's loop, serving much of south Los Angeles' and North Long Beach's working-class neighborhoods like Florence, Watts, Willowbrook, and Compton. These areas are unfortunately known to be rather dangerous, but thanks to the Blue Line, it allows over 70,000 low-income and working-class people a day to move between their neighborhoods and downtown, where back in the day the PE interurban would be the only way to move across the county. Due to this, and the fact the trains travel at-grade instead of underground or on an elevated route, the Blue Line is unfortunately prone to capacity issues that may not be solved anytime soon.

The usual rush-hour on the Blue Line in Long Beach.
(Southern California Public Radio - KPCC)

With only injuries sustained, this driver's lucky that driving
around the crossing gates did not lead to worse.
(Los Angeles Times)

Another problem with the Blue Line being at-grade is the fact that the Blue Line is considered "the deadliest and most collision-prone rail line in America". Over 120 motorists and pedestrians have been killed at level crossings across the Blue Line, and over 800 collisions in general have been accounted for. The worst part has been identified as between Washington Blvd and Willow Station, where the former interurban line allows speeds up to 55 miles per hour in some sections. The 2014-2019 rebuilding of the Blue Line has taken measures to combat the line's lethality, with new quadrant crossing gates making it harder for motorists to beat the train and new traffic cameras to ticket those who do so.

Crossing gates keep the cars out. After all, they're not trains.
(Streetsblog LA)

The newer, safer Willowbrook/Rosa Parks station
on the Blue Line, during testing.
(Metro Sheep Productions)

The 2019 line rejuvenation was also able to repair much of the aging PE-era infrastructure, such as replacing crooked track, as well as renovating the stations to be safer and also more welcoming to riders. Stations like Willowbrook/Rosa Parks (where the Blue meets the Green Line) were treated to a heavy renovation to improve lighting, security cameras, and platform safety standards. While the Blue Line was closed for ten months (five months per each half of the line), Metro Division 11 handled the rejuvenation and retirement of the rolling stock. Division 11 serves as the heavy maintenance and storage yards for both the Blue and Green Line and can be found along the 710 freeway between Alhambra and Long Beach, just south of the Del Amo Street exit. The Blue Line reopened on November 2, 2019, now known as the "A" Line, and began the pattern of renaming the rest of the rapid transit lines to fit a more expanded Metro system.

People are still gonna call 'em by color, you can't stop them.
(Metro's The Source)

Seeing Red

A map of Metro's Red Line as of 2021.
(Ricky Courtney, credited again)

The original Hollywood Subway, taken from the entrance
of Toluca Yard.
(The Paris Review)

The second line to open was built concurrently to the Blue Line, but solved a different issue. In the 1920s, PE created the "Hollywood Subway" from Downtown Los Angeles to the Hollywood Foothills and the San Fernando Valley to relieve surface streetcar traffic on Hill Street. Though the subway only ran one mile under Bunker Hill, it still became LA's most popular and most-traveled streetcar line, a reputation marred by tragedy when the line closed prematurely in 1955. Since then, transit planners desired to bring something as practical as a subway back to LA as it could handle thousands of people traveling a day while also not getting in the way of the street traffic above. However, in notoriously earthquake-prone Los Angeles, convincing anyone to tunnel underground was going to be a hard bargain.

Metro's main subway terminal at Union Station.
(Robert Schwandl)

The Red Line station at Universal City.
(Southern California Public Radio - KPCC)

Originally planned to be a subway through Wilshire Boulevard to the San Fernando Valley, the current Red Line route follows most of the original PE San Fernando Valley line through Hollywood and Cahuenga Pass. Along its 16-mile route northwest to North Hollywood, the Red Line connects to Metrolink and Amtrak at LA's Union Station (its current southern terminus), Angels Flight at Pershing Square (just make sure to exit the station on the right side, otherwise you have a long walk up two blocks), the two light rail lines at 7th and Metro, MacArthur Park, the Kaiser Sunset Medical Facility at Vermont/Sunset, the middle of Hollywood at Hollywood/Highland, and of course Universal Studios (which is a short shuttle bus from the station). This makes the subway popular with studio city commuters and tourists, as 133,413 people used the Red Line (and Purple Line) per day in 2019.

Metro's Division 20 Yard.
(Salaam Allah)

Maintenance for the Red Line is handled by Metro Division 20, an outdoor yard along the banks of the LA River just north of Fourth Street. Unlike the Blue Line, the Red Line's infrastructure has aged fairly well and has been rated to survive earthquakes as big as the infamous 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Currently, plans are being drawn up to extend the Red Line North to Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, south along Vermont Boulevard, and East from Union Station to El Monte and West Covina. Only time will tell for the Red Line (which became the "B" line in 2019), as one of its branches is currently having a bad time trying to complete itself.

Purple is Powerful

Metro's upcoming Purple Line extension, with the Expo Line below.
(Metro's The Source)

Metro's Purple Line station (here red, as it was a branchline at the time)
outside of the Wiltern Theater, also the gateway to Koreatown.
(InSapphoWeTrust) 

The Purple Line represents what was going to be the Red Line's original alignment down Wilshire Boulevard and the Miracle Mile. At 6.4 miles, it remains the shortest metro line as it shares five stations with the Red Line before splitting at Wilshire/Vermont and currently only reaches two more stations, Wilshire/Normandie and Wilshire/Western. Until 2006, this line was designated a branch of the Red Line; only after the extension was proposed was the color changed. Like the Red Line, the Purple Line's continued existence would make it a valuable and practical utility for the local community, as it connects with LA's large and restaurant-heavy Koreatown, the Wiltern entertainment hub on Wilshire/Western, and the many museums on the Miracle Mile such as the Petersen Automotive Museum, the LA County Museum of Art, and the La Brea Tar Pits Museum Site. The reason for the incompleteness of the Purple Line has more to do with where the line will serve rather than any major design flaw or construction hiccup. Due to the "subway to the sea" plan, the Purple (renamed the "D" Line in 2019) intends to reach Westwood Village and connect to the VA hospital by 2027, and this puts it under very wealthy and very unwelcoming neighbors.

Of all the things to protest, you had to pick a Metro line.
Unlike the parents of these children, the Purple Line would
actually be useful to normal Angelenos.
(Curbed LA)

Drilling continues for the new Wilshire/Fairfax station.
(Metro's The Source)

Westwood is a very rich neighborhood, as is Beverly Hills which the Purple Line goes under at Rodeo Drive, so you can imagine the backlash leveled at the subway project. One of the most vocal opponents in recent years has been Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) president Lisa Korbatov, who opposed the building of the subway tunnel between Wilshire/Rodeo and Century City/Constellation as it would disrupt construction of new buildings and a parking lot at Beverly Hills High School. The alignment under the high school was chosen due to low ridership expected out of the LA Country Club, and an earthquake fault zone discovered under the original alignment of Santa Monica Boulevard (the original PE Beverly Hills/Santa Monica line). Try as they might in court, even appealing to ex-President Donald Trump to withhold funding for construction, the BHUSD and Korbatov failed in their attempts to halt the subway as of May 2020. Phase 1 of the new Purple Line, between La Brea and La Cienega, is slated to open in 2023, and Metro is confident that the project is "On Time" despite the continued litigation. 

Green For Envy, Green for the Lawns

A map of the Metro Green Line, as of 2021.
(Ricky Courtney, again)

MTA CEO Frank White dedicates the Green Line opening
with an inordinate amount of balloons.
(The Militant Angeleno)

Long considered one of the most useless lines in Los Angeles, the Green Line between the quiet suburb of Norwalk and the airport hub city of El Segundo was originally planned to be one of the most-used and, thus, most valuable lines. With an opening date of August 12, 1995, it was projected to serve upwards of thousands of aerospace workers using it as their primary means of commuting. Unfortunately, just five years prior, the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, bringing the Cold War to a close. This meant that aerospace manufacturers in El Segundo, like McDonnell Douglas, moved their operations elsewhere and left the Green Line without much purpose. Even when it opened, people found its complete grade-separation (traveling on the 105 freeway's median) and speed quite forward-thinking, but ridership projections went the other way due to a myriad of reasons. The biggest controversy facing the Green Line was where it was located, as the much-opposed Century Freeway (now the 105) displaced several low-income families that were living in Downey, Compton and Century City. Among the famous homes lost were the childhood homes of the Wilson Brothers (of the Beach boys) and the Carpenters (Richard and Karen). 

The very quiet and clear right-of-way of the Green Line's 105 median route.
(The Militant Angeleno)

ATSF PA No. 64 rumbles under a landing DC6 during one
of the last fan-trips on the Harbor Subdivision, 1960s.
(Unknown Author, possibly Roger Puta)

Furthermore, the line was fiercely opposed by the local bus unions that operated in Downey and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The latter had blocked any rail access to the airport for the longest time as, in their words, using the old ATSF Harbor Subdivision (which was on the east end of the runway, along Aviation Boulevard) would foul landing planes due to the overhead power lines. Thus, on opening day, riders like the Militant Angeleno reported seeing an abandoned concrete bridge spur to a never-built western alignment. The line, also denied any reach into the South Bay through El Segundo, now ended unceremoniously on the corner of Redondo Beach and Marine Avenues, behind a Costco and a bunch of Pacific Car Dealerships. Rolling stock maintenance is provided by Metro Division 11, just like the Blue Line. Its annual ridership pre-COVID 19 stood at 9.1 million people, which fell to half that through 2020. It remains both the least popular and least populated line on the Metro system, with the hopes that the new Pink Line (or now the "K" Line) will restore its rightful name and usefulness.

End of the Line... for now.
(The Militant Angeleno)

Eureka! We've Struck Gold!

Metro's Gold Line, as it appeared in 2018.
(LA Metro)

The LA&SGVRy crosses the Arroyo Seco in 1885,
en route to Highland Park.
(Water and Power Associates)

The Gold Line represents the largest light rail project LA Metro had ever undertaken since the restoration of the Blue Line. Originally part of the latter line until a ban on using sales taxes for subways was imposed in 1998, the Gold Line sought to reuse the recently-abandoned ATSF Second District between Downtown Los Angeles and (currently) Montclair. The former heavy-rail line had quite the history, as it was originally built in 1885 for the Los Angeles & San Gabriel Valley Railroad and eventually became part of the Santa Fe's legendary "Super Chief" route. The last services rendered on the line besides freight were two steam train excursions in 1991 and 1992, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the "California Limited", the first Chicago-to-Los Angeles passenger train on the railway. Shortly after abandonment, LA Metro purchased the line from ATSF and began repurposing its roadbed.

The first train from Union Station to Pasadena prepares
for departure on July 26, 2003.
(Chris Guenzler)

The Gold Line opened its first phase to the public on July 26, 2003, between Union Station and Sierra Madre Villa in east Pasadena. Most of the line was built on original private right-of-ways and at-grade separations, making it a little safer than the Blue Line, with some stations located above or below the ground. A new staging yard and maintenance facility, dubbed Metro Division 21, was added on the banks of the LA River, just before the Chinatown Station and across from Southern Pacific's old Taylor Yard (now Metrolink). On November 2009, a new route was built from Union Station to East Los Angeles, via Little Tokyo, that now reached deep into the working-class Latino communities of El Monte, Monterey Park, and Commerce. Since this extension, the Gold Line has been hard at work extending deeper into former ATSF territory, reaching Azusa's APU/Citrus College station on March 5, 2016. This also joined in with a new maintenance yard in Monrovia, Metro Division 24. It remains one of the most popular light rail lines, both for its historic attractions (as its the only train close enough to Dodgers Stadium) and its high ridership, boasting a daily ridership of almost 50,000 people by the end of 2016.

Metro's new Division 24 yard in Monrovia, yet to be filled with old
Breda and new KinkiSharyo P3010 LRVs.
(DaBelly magazine)

An Exposition of Electrical Pageantry

The air line remains, eternal, as of 2019.
(LA Metro)

Some motorist yahoo ruined the last run of the
Santa Monica Air Line on September 29, 1953.
It's always someone...
(Roger Titus, Ralph Cantos, PERYHS)

The last (current) light rail line to open is also another historic Pacific Electric line. Originally the Santa Monica Air Line, the Los Angeles & Pacific Railroad (or the Balloon Route) was a popular summer destination with special streetcar excursions run during the season. After being purchased by the Pacific Electric, it saw express and limited trains plying its rails as the original Santa Monica route (following Santa Monica Boulevard to Beverly Hills) was clogged with local streetcars and freight trains. The Air Line closed in 1953 during a change in ownership from Metropolitan Coach Lines to the LAMTA, which many people saw as a disservice. In its place was the 10 Freeway, which certainly did not suit the inclinations of a trolley-loving public. Over the years, as the tracks were torn up and new businesses were encroaching on the right of way, many people beseeched the LA Metro to purchase the almost-complete right-of-way and restore it to operation. Thankfully, Metro listened.

What originally remained of the Air Line at Exposition Boulevard, next to Palms Park, in 2005.
(Public Domain)

From one track to two tracks, the upgraded Expo Line 
is collaged next to an original PE Santa Monica car.
(Ralph Cantos)

The new line, officially dubbed the "Mid-City/Exposition Corridor" and advocated by "Friends 4 Expo Transit", began construction in 2006 with an 8.6 mile section between Downtown Los Angeles and Culver City. The new line was made as practical and as safe as possible to address concerns about at-grade running like the Blue and Gold Lines; gone were shared street running with the cars, as every single strip of rail down Exposition Boulevard was guarded by fencing and concrete curbs. Wherever possible, the line was able to rise above the road (like across Culver Boulevard) to clear heavily-congested streets. To make things easier and allow better transportation of rolling stock for maintenance, the line was lashed to the Blue Line at 7th Metro and shared the Pico station, splitting at Washington Boulevard to serve the local LA Trade Tech and Orthopedic Institute.

An Expo Line train at La Cienega station, during LA's "Golden Hour".
(New York Times)

The original "Palms" SP/PE depot, now at
Heritage Square Museum in Highland Park.
(Floyd B. Bariscale)

The second, 6.6 mile section between Culver City and Santa Monica began construction in 2011 and opened on May 20, 2016. One station along this section, "Palms", was the center of a small community rallying point. Originally, Metro wanted to name the station "National/Palms" as it passed through National Boulevard. However, the Palms Neighborhood Council pleased with Metro to keep the name "Palms", citing its history (and surviving station building in Highland Park's Heritage Square Museum):

"The Pacific Line Palms station was an important landmark on the west side of the city, and the community that grew around it is one of the oldest on the west side of Los Angeles. Our stakeholders feel the naming of the station is not only an important branding opportunity for Palms, but an opportunity for Los Angeles to reinstate a link to the history in one of its oldest and most diverse communities." - PNC

Disney animator and all-around narrow-gauge madman Ward Kimball
makes his presence known during the original transportation of the Palms
depot from Culver City to Highland Park, 1976.
(Bruce Cox, UCLA Library Digital Collections)

Welcome back to the beach, you loveable trolleys.
(Archinect)

Metro graciously took their suggestions to account and, on April 25, 2013, agreed to keep the name "Palms".  When the new Expo Line opened in full on May 20, 2016, people were very surprised to find old PE newspaper articles, roundels, and carved graphics dotting each of the station platform surfaces, impressing history buffs and traction advocates alike that Metro hadn't forgotten its heritage. Despite this, the Expo Line is not free from problems. Due to its high ridership to the beach (61,957 people as of October 2018) and the frequency of stations along the 15-mile line (19 in all), the Expo Line is rather slow and bumpy for the average rider. Nevertheless, it remains a much-needed and very useful option for getting to the beach as, without it, we would still be stuck in traffic on the 10. How's that for freeway culture?

A PE roundel graces the platform on the Expo Line's Jefferson/USC station.
(Han Sang Yoon)

Wait, What DO We Call This Line Again?

The eventual "K" Line, outlined in pink.
(Jerjozwik)

The many ups and downs of the Crenshaw/LAX line.
(The Transport Politic)

LA Metro's Division 16 Southwestern Yard.
(Juan Ocampo)

Currently, the newest line yet to open is also the one with the biggest identity crisis. As said previously, the Green Line's Western Extension to LAX was originally blocked by the FAA for being perceived as dangerous to the planes. Now, as of 2018, a new line was finally announced that would make everyone happy, though it did come with many different names: The Crenshaw/LAX Line, the Pink Line, and the "K" Line. Funded by Measure R and with construction beginning in July 2012, the Crenshaw/LAX line travels down from Expo/Crenshaw Station (where it meets with the Expo Line) down to the 105 to meet the Green Line at its originally-unfulfilled junction at Aviation/LAX. A new maintenance facility, Metro Division 16, opened on Arbor Vitae just north of LAX to service Green Line and the new Crenshaw/LAX trains. In order to avoid the planes, the trains duck under into a small "dug-out" section at the runways, completely avoiding getting struck by planes, before rising back up over Century Boulevard to meet its new LAX station. The 8.5 mile line is currently due to open by November 2022.

And it'll all keep going, into the future...
(Railway Age)

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included Metro's "The Source" Magazine, and numerous LA Metro news articles about the development and opening of each line. I'd also like to thank the Militant Angeleno for his account of the Green Line's opening day and also the photo credits in each caption. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be found under “Motorman Reymond’s Railroad Gif Carhouse”, while the subway and Green Line trains are made by Alex Stroshane. On Thursday, we finish up the month by talking about LA Metro's light rail and subway fleet. 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!