With 4 million inhabitants, Los Angeles is the centre of a metropolitan area which is home to some 14 million people within a narrow stretch of land between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountain ranges in Southern California.

After all streetcar lines had been closed down by 1963, Los Angeles became the model for a car-friendly city. Finally in the 1980's, the county and region decided to return to rail-based public transport and to build a network of metro and light rail lines. The first phase includes 95 km (59 miles) with one subway (Red Line) and two (Blue & Green) LRT lines with another two LRT lines to open by 2003 and 2007. After the opening of the Metro Gold Line in 2003, the total length of the network is 117km (73 miles).

Construction began in 1985 on the Metro Blue Line, which starts in downtown L.A. and then runs south for 30 km (22 miles) to Long Beach along a former railway alignment not used for passenger service since 1963. At the southern end the Blue Line turns in a loop through downtown Long Beach adjacent to the waterfront and Long Beach Harbor (site of the Queen Mary). The northern terminus at 7th St./Metro Center/Julian Dixon (underground station) opened in 1991 and provides a link to the Metro Red Line. Along the 35 km (22 mile) route there are 22 stations with high platforms which allow easy access into the LRT vehicles. Journey time for the entire route is 53 minutes.

The first section of L.A.'s only subway line, the Metro Red Line, opened to the public, after seven years of construction, on 30 January 1993 in downtown Los Angeles between Union Station and MacArthur Park. In 1996 it was extended westwards to Wilshire/Western, in 1999 the branch to Hollywood/Vine started operating and eventually in 2000 it reached its northwestern North Hollywood terminus. The Metro Red Line now has a length of 28 km and all stations boast an interesting design, which obviously made construction more expensive than elsewhere. Due to the city's geographical situation, tunnels had to be built to resist earthquakes of up to 7.5 degrees. Rolling stock was bought from Breda (Italy). From the Metro Red Line's North Hollywood terminus an exclusive right-of-way to be used by rapid bus transit was built. This 22 km route with 13 stops is promoted as the Metro Orange Line and opened on 29 Oct 2005. Since 2007, the Wilshire branch has been designated as the Metro Purple Line.

Meanwhile in 1995, the Metro Green Line was inaugurated as an east-west line mainly along the median strip of I-105 (Century Freeway). It intersects with the Metro Blue Line at the Imperial/Wilmington/Rosa Parks station and is totally segregated from other traffic. Along it's 32 km (20 miles) route are 14 stations. A trip from Norwalk on the eastern end of the line to Redondo Beach area on the west end takes about 32 minutes. A branch from the Aviation Station (where free shuttle service to LAX passenger terminals is available) into the airport itself may be built in the future.

A northern LRT route from Union Station to Pasadena, the Metro Gold Line, opened in July 2003. The line, which runs along a former railway corridor from Los Angeles to Claremont, is nearly 22 km long and has 13 stations.

 History

1990 - Metro Blue Line opened
30 Jan. 1993 - Metro Red Line opened Union Station - McArthur Park
1995 - Metro Green Line opened
13 July 1996 - Wilshire extension
12 June 1999 - Hollywood extension
24 June 2000 - North Hollywood extension (10km)
26 July 2003 - Metro Gold Line Union Station - Sierra Madre Villa (22km)

The Metro Gold Line will be extended towards the east from Union Station, with stations at Little Tokyo/Arts District, Pico-Aliso, Boyle Heights Mariachi Plaza, Soto, Indiana, Maravilla, East L.A. Civic Center and Pomona/Atlantic. This 9 mile line will also include a short 2-mile tunnel section with two underground stations. More

On the northern end of the line, 4 additional stations are going to be added: Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, and Irwindale. Both extensions are expected to be completed in 2009. The northern end of the line may eventually be extended all the way to Montclair.

The MTA approved the Expo Line from downtown to Culver City, about nine miles to the west of downtown. Construction started in 2006 for completion in 2010. For details see BuildExpo.org

Eventually a western extension to the Metro Red Line down Wilshire Boulevard to the Pacific Ocean may be built, after tunnelling in the area has been examined and seems now to be feasible.

© Pictures 1-4 Eric Haas, 5-6 Salaam Allah

- OPERATION

Metro Red Line 5:00 - 0:30, every 5 minutes peak hours, 10 minutes daytime, 15 minutes evening.

Metro Blue Line 5:00 - 24:00, every 5-10 minutes peak hours, 12 minutes daytime, 20 minutes early morning and evening.

Metro Green Line 4:00 - 1:00, every 8 minutes peak hours, 12 minutes daytime, 20 minutes evening.

Metro Gold Line 3:35 - 2:00, every 10 minutes on weekdays during peak morning and afternoon rush hours, every 12-minutes during the mid-day and every 20-minutes during the late night hours.

- FARES (2008)

Single fare $1.25

Day Pass $5.00

Weekly Pass $17.00

MTA - Official Page

MetroLink (Commuter Trains)

UNION STATION The L.A. Rail Transit Web Page - Great Private Page by Elson Trinidad with map

Many pictures and maps at Los Angeles Transit at nycsubway.org

Metro Art on the Los Angeles Metro Rail Network by Ruth Wallach

Santa Monica LRT project

Friends of the Red Line

The Transit Coalition

San Fernando Transit Insider

Photographs (1-2) © Dennis Lytton; (3-4) © Salaam Allah