It was first regarded as a future disaster according to a bad press review and derogatory comments from one academic who told The Times in 1985, that the line linking Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Blue Line would be "a ghost train." After the demise of the Pacific Electric Red Cars a generation before, there was no reason for optimism, an MIT researcher warned, going as far as saying that "the blind cult of the train could be as dangerous and destructive as the unthinking worship of the freeway." However, on July 14, 2015, the Blue Line, celebrated its 25 Year Anniversary, eclipsing ridership benchmarks to become one of the most heavily traveled light-rail lines in the United States. Its debut also marked the dawn of an ambitious era of rail expansion in Los Angeles County.
By 1990 Los Angeles County had roughly 8.6 million people, and over six million registered motor vehicles, but not one single inch of rail transit. July 14, 1990 marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new one when 22 miles of the Blue Line opened between Los Angeles and Long Beach, the two largest cities in Los Angeles County. Metro Rail was born and the Los Angeles area joined many other cities around the world that use both buses and trains to get people from Point A to Point B.
It now consists of six rail lines totaling 87 miles of track: Four rail lines are light rail (Blue, Expo, Gold and Green) and two are subway (Purple and Red), serving 80 stations. It connects with the Metro Liner bus rapid transit system (the Orange Line and Silver Line) and also with the Metrolink commuter rail system.
Another 32 miles of Metro Rail are under construction and nearing completion, with an 11.5-mile extension of the Gold Line to the Azusa/Glendora border, and a six-mile extension of the Expo Line to downtown Santa Monica. In addition, the 8.5-mile Crenshaw/LAX Line is being built between the Expo Line and the Green Line, and
work has begun on the 1.9-mile Regional Connector, an underground rail tunnel that will connect the Blue, Expo and Gold Lines in downtown Los Angeles, reducing the number of transfers for those riding to and through downtown Los Angeles. The fifth project is the 3.9-mile first section of the Purple Line Extension subway between Wilshire/Western and Wilshire/La Cienega in Beverly Hills. A second section will extend the project to Century City and a third section to Westwood. With their completion, the Metro Rail system will span over 113 miles to destinations across LA County. Also, Wi-Fi and
cellular phone service will be installed in stations
and tunnels along the Metro Rail system as a $800,000 project. Coverage will be rolled
out in phases, starting with portions of the
Red and Purple lines, then later the Gold
Line by March 2017.
The Metro Rail system is the indirect descendant of the Pacific Electric Red Car and Los Angeles Railway Yellow Car lines, which operated between the late 19th century and the 1960s. For over five decades Southern California had an extensive privately owned rail transit network with over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of track - operated by Pacific Electric (Red Cars) and Los Angeles Railway (Yellow Cars). However, starting in 1927, a revenue shortfall caused Pacific Electric to begin replacing lightly used rail lines with buses. After World War II, the rail system was slowly dismantled. In 1958,
Twenty-Five Years of Metro Rail
Wilshire/
Western
Station
Tile murals covering the end walls
of the station acknowledge
the diversity of Los Angeles and
are a metaphor for a city always
in transition.
50 - Ceres Magazine - Winter 2016