From: ed@wente.llnl.gov (Ed Suranyi)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Los Angeles Metro Rail News
Date: 9 Apr 92 16:39:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: lll-wink.122073
Organization: UC Davis Dept of Applied Science at LLNL

The Metro Blue Line (light rail) is running as well as ever.

The Metro Red Line (heavy rail) has almost completed construction
of its first, five station segment.  Rails have been laid, and test
cars borrowed from Atlanta's MARTA system have been running on it.
However, the stations still need some work, so this segment is not
expected to open until sometime in 1993.  That means it is still
basically on schedule.

The 7th Metro Center station (at 7th and Flower) is both the end
of the Blue Line and the transfer station to the Red Line.  From
the Blue Line Station you can now get an excellent look downstairs
at the Red Line Station here.  This one seems to be almost finished.
The station appears to be fully lit, and even the station indicator
signs, with their internal illumination, is up and running.  Above the
stairs there's a big banner with an arrow pointing down.  It says, 
"Metro Red Line -- Coming in 1993."

The second segment of the Red Line, through Hollywood, has just started
construction recently.

There is supposed to be a branch off the Red Line, called the Orange Line,
which is supposed to continue westward through the Wilshire District.
The first station of this line (at Wilshire and Western, I believe) is
also part of the second segment of the
Red Line construction.  Originally, it was supposed to continue under Wilshire
Boulevard, a natural choice to anyone who knows L.A.  However, a few
years ago it was discovered that under that street lay pockets of natrual
gas, so tunneling there was deemed too dangerous.  So the route was
changed further south, to Pico, to get around this area.  About a week
ago, however, there was an article in the L.A. Times which said that
some experts think this is a bad idea.  They say that Pico isn't really
that much safer than Wilshire, that ways have been devised to minimize the
danger anyway, and that from a traffic standpoint Wilshire would be much
preferable.  So they want the route moved back.  I don't know what will
happen.

One interesting thing is that at the Blue Line station at 7th Metro Center
there are already signs up indicating a destination of Pasadena for trains
coming into this dead-end station.  The continuation northward to Pasadena
is not expected to open until after the turn of the century!  Here's
what's suppposed to happen.  In 1993, as I said, the Red Line will open
from Union Station to 7th Metro Center, and one station further.  Soon
afterwards, a light rail line will open from Union Station to Pasadena.
Thus, it will then be possible to go from Pasadena to Long Beach with
two transfers.  But the planners think the traffic for this route will 
eventually be enough to support direct service, so the Blue Line will
be extended northward to connect directly with the Pasadena Line.  But
since this connection is not absolutely essential to provide the service,
it is not a high priority.

This fall commuter rail service from several points in the L.A. area is
supposed to start.  These lines will converge on Union Station, where
in the future people will be able to take the subway to wherever they
want to go.  But the Red Line won't open for about another six months,
so planners have been trying to figure out what to do in the meantime.
The best they've come up with is to provide a large fleet of buses to 
take commuters from Union Station to the rest of downtown.

Ed
ed@wente.llnl.gov