LACMTA Green Line
Encyclopedia
The Green Line is a light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

 line running between Redondo Beach
Redondo Beach, California
Redondo Beach is one of the three Beach Cities located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 66,748 at the 2010 census, up from 63,261 at the 2000 census. The city is located in the South Bay region of the greater Los Angeles area.Redondo Beach was originally part of...

 and Norwalk
Norwalk, California
Norwalk is a suburban city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 105,549 at the 2010 census, up from 103,298 at the 2000 census, making it the 58th most populous city in California and the 255th nationally....

 within Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...

; it is one of five forming the Los Angeles County Metro Rail
Los Angeles County Metro Rail
Metro Rail is the rapid transit rail system consisting of five separate lines serving 70 stations in the Los Angeles County, California area. The new Expo line is due to enter service in early 2012. It connects with the Metro liner bus rapid transit system and also with the Metrolink commuter...

 system. In addition to Redondo Beach and Norwalk, the route also serves El Segundo
El Segundo, California
El Segundo is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on the Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is one of the Beach Cities of Los Angeles County and part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments...

, Hawthorne
Hawthorne, California
Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. The city at the 2010 census had a population of 84,293, up from 84,112 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

, Lynwood
Lynwood, California
Lynwood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States of America. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 69,772, down from 69,845 at the 2000 census. Lynwood is located near South Gate and Compton in the southern portion of the Los Angeles Basin. Incorporated in...

, South Gate
South Gate, California
South Gate is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The sixteenth largest city in Los Angeles County, it encompasses . South Gate is located just southeast of downtown Los Angeles It is part of the Gateway Cities region of southeastern Los Angeles County...

, and Willowbrook
Willowbrook, California
Willowbrook is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 35,983 at the 2010 census, up from 34,138 at the 2000 census. The community is located near the southeast edge of, and is often considered part of, South Los Angeles...

 (in Los Angeles). A free shuttle bus to Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...

 (LAX) is available at the line's Aviation station.

The fully grade-separated
Grade separation
Grade separation is the method of aligning a junction of two or more transport axes at different heights so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other transit routes when they cross each other. The composition of such transport axes does not have to be uniform; it can consist of a...

 route runs partly in the median of the Century Freeway (Interstate 105) with an elevated section
Elevated railway
An elevated railway is a form of rapid transit railway with the tracks built above street level on some form of viaduct or other steel or concrete structure. The railway concerned may be constructed according to the standard gauge, narrow gauge, light rail, monorail or suspension railway system...

 to the west. The line is operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the California state-chartered regional transportation planning agency and public transportation operating agency for the County of Los Angeles formed in 1993 out of a merger of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the...

. The Green Line is internally known as Line 803: this designation appears on internal operating schedules, as well as in the hyperlink on Metro's timetable website.

Route

The entire route of the Green Line is elevated
Elevated railway
An elevated railway is a form of rapid transit railway with the tracks built above street level on some form of viaduct or other steel or concrete structure. The railway concerned may be constructed according to the standard gauge, narrow gauge, light rail, monorail or suspension railway system...

, either on track supports, or in the median of the Century Freeway (Interstate 105). The line begins in the west at station, then heads roughly north through El Segundo. At , passengers can transfer to any one of several bus lines from different operators, particularly the shuttle bus to LAX. From here, the Green Line heads east in the median of the Century Freeway, with major connections at the Harbor Transitway
Harbor Transitway
The Harbor Transitway is an 11-mile shared-use bus corridor and high-occupancy vehicle roadway that runs in the median of Interstate 110 in Southern California...

 and (transfer point to the Metro Blue Line). Finally, the line terminates in Norwalk just east of the 605 Freeway.

History

As part of the consent decree
Consent decree
A consent decree is a final, binding judicial decree or judgment memorializing a voluntary agreement between parties to a suit in return for withdrawal of a criminal charge or an end to a civil litigation...

 signed by Caltrans
California Department of Transportation
The California Department of Transportation is a government department in the U.S. state of California. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems throughout the state...

 in 1972 to allow construction of the fiercely opposed Century Freeway
Interstate 105 (California)
Interstate 105 is an Interstate Highway in southern Los Angeles County, California that runs east–west from near the Los Angeles International Airport to Norwalk...

, provisions were made for a transit corridor (without designating the type thereof) in the freeway's median. In the original Metro Rail master plan of the early 1980s, this corridor was designated as a light rail line.

Construction on the Green Line began in 1987. One of the reasons for construction was that the Green Line would serve the Aerospace and Defense industries in the El Segundo
El Segundo, California
El Segundo is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on the Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is one of the Beach Cities of Los Angeles County and part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments...

 area. Construction of the line cost $718 million. However, by the time the Green Line opened in 1995, the Cold War was over, and the aerospace sector was hemorrhaging jobs. Furthermore, during the 1980s, the bedroom communities in the Gateway Cities region of southeastern Los Angeles County were rapidly losing their population of middle-class aerospace workers (primarily whites and blacks), a process that radically accelerated in the early 1990s. The working-class and poor Hispanics who filled the vacuum generally had no connection to the aerospace sector. This rationale for Green Line construction was a principal argument cited by the Bus Riders Union when it contended that MTA was focusing its efforts on serving middle-class whites and not working-class minorities. As a result, ridership has been below projected estimates, averaging approximately 44,000 daily weekday boardings in June 2008.

At the time the Green Line opened, the line used train cars made by Nippon Sharyo
Nippon Sharyo
, , formed in 1896, is a major rolling stock manufacturer based in Nagoya, Japan. In 1996, it abbreviated its name to "日本車両" Nippon Sharyō. Its shortest abbreviation is Nissha "日車". It was a listed company on Nikkei 225 until 2004. It is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Nagoya Stock Exchange...

 similar to those used on the Metro Blue Line. In 2000, the Nippon Sharyo
Nippon Sharyo
, , formed in 1896, is a major rolling stock manufacturer based in Nagoya, Japan. In 1996, it abbreviated its name to "日本車両" Nippon Sharyō. Its shortest abbreviation is Nissha "日車". It was a listed company on Nikkei 225 until 2004. It is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Nagoya Stock Exchange...

 train cars were transferred to the Blue Line and the Green Line received new train cars made by Siemens
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....

.

The Green Line's western alignment was originally planned and partially constructed to connect with LAX, but the airport was in the planning stages of a major remodeling during the line's construction. Los Angeles World Airports
Los Angeles World Airports
Los Angeles World Airports or LAWA is the airport oversight and operations department for the city of Los Angeles, California, United States...

 wanted the connection to LAX to be integrated with this construction, but there were concerns that the overhead lines
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...

 of the rail would interfere with the landing paths of airplanes. In addition, citizens of neighboring communities to LAX opposed the expansion of the airport, and owners of parking lots surrounding LAX were fearful that a train operating to LAX would create competition, since there is ample free parking at numerous points along the Green Line. As a compromise, a free shuttle from Aviation station station transports riders to LAX. Today, passengers on the Green Line can see the provision for the LAX extension—two concrete ramp stubs west of Aviation/LAX station.

The Green Line's eastern terminus also suffers from the fact that it stops two miles (3 km) short of the heavily used Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Metrolink
Metrolink (Southern California)
Metrolink is a commuter rail system serving Los Angeles and the surrounding area of Southern California; it currently consists of six lines and 55 stations using of track....

 station, where several Metrolink lines operate. Local bus service is provided between the Metrolink station and the Green Line terminus, but schedules are not coordinated with Green Line arrivals. Because of this, and the Green Line's re-routed western alignment away from LAX, critics have labeled the Green Line as a train that goes "from nowhere to nowhere." Also, along those lines, it is the only Metro rail line not to serve Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...

; a transfer to the Blue Line can be made at the Imperial/Wilmington station by riders destined to go there.

In 2007, the Metro Green Line began placing advertisement banners on the sides of trains, similar to those on the Gold Line. Later, the advertisement banners have been removed. The advertisement banners made a comeback in April 2009.

Future extensions

Various studies have suggested extending the Green Line north to LAX
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...

, Westchester, Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University is a comprehensive co-educational private Roman Catholic university in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions located in Los Angeles, California, United States...

, and even Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...

. A possible southern extension could take the Green Line's southern terminus farther southeast, to the South Bay Galleria
South Bay Galleria
South Bay Galleria, formerly named Galleria at South Bay, is a mall in Redondo Beach outside of Los Angeles, California. It is anchored by Macy's, Kohl's and Nordstrom, as well as a 16-screen AMC Theatres multiplex.-History:...

 or beyond. And on the line's east end, the line may one day be extended from its current terminus at Norwalk station to Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs station
Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs (Metrolink station)
The Norwalk/Sante Fe Springs Metrolink Station is a Metrolink rail station in the city of Norwalk, California. It is served by Metrolink's 91 Line from Los Angeles Union Station to Riverside and Metrolink's Orange County Line running from Los Angeles Union Station to Oceanside. On weekdays, this...

.

Northern Extension to LAX

When the Crenshaw Corridor
Crenshaw Corridor (Los Angeles Metro)
The Crenshaw Corridor is a mass-transit project to construct a new light-rail corridor through southwest Los Angeles. The corridor will run generally north-south and will connect the Crenshaw District and Leimert Park to Inglewood and LAX...

 is completed, the Metro Green Line will begin a new operational pattern near LAX, with northern and southern branches. The southern branch will operate as the Green Line currently does: westbound trains will continue through El Segundo down to Redondo Beach. The northern branch will allow westbound trains to head north along Aviation and terminate at Aviation/Century station, allowing transfers to the Crenshaw Line and the LAX Automated People Mover
LAX Automated People Mover
The LAX Automated People Mover is a planned people mover transit system intended to bring airline passengers and staff to Los Angeles International Airport . It will be designed, constructed, and operated by Los Angeles World Airports...

 (which will transport riders to the LAX terminals).

Southern Extension to South Bay

Metro
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the California state-chartered regional transportation planning agency and public transportation operating agency for the County of Los Angeles formed in 1993 out of a merger of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the...

 is currently working on the initial environmental study of a corridor extension of the Green Line, from its Redondo terminus toward the southeast. The "South Bay Metro Green Line Extension" would roughly follow the Harbor Subdivision ROW into the South Bay, to the Torrance Regional Transit Center (RTC). Metro and the public are considering two alternatives in the DEIR: an elevated light-rail extension, and an at-grade extension over existing tracks, with vehicle type still to be determined.

Study of the South Bay Extension will lead to publication of a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). The study is expected to be completed in 2011. The project is prioritized in the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) and has funding in Measure R.

Operations

The Green Line is operated out of the Division 22 Yard (Aviation Street Yard). This yard stores the fleet used on the Green line. It is also where light maintenance is done on the fleet (Heavier maintenance is done at the Blue Line yard in Long Beach). The Yard is located between Redondo Beach and Douglas stations. Trains enter the yard via a junction halfway between the two stations. Douglas bound trains (Northbound) may enter but there is no exit track to continue North. Redondo Beach bound trains (Southbound) my enter and exit the Yard to continue south.

Station listing

The Green Line consists of the following stations (from west to east):
Station Connections Date Opened
Redondo Beach *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 126, 215
August 12, 1995
Douglas *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 125
August 12, 1995
El Segundo *Gardena Transit: 5 August 12, 1995
Mariposa *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 232
August 12, 1995
Aviation/LAX *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 120, 625
*Santa Monica Transit: 3, Rapid 3
*Culver City Transit: 6, Rapid 6
August 12, 1995
Hawthorne *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 40, 126, 212, 312
*Metro Express
Metro Express
Metro Express is a form of express bus service in Los Angeles County, California, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Buses are usually express for a portion of the route, then run either local or limited stop in other areas...

: 442
*Metro Rapid
Metro Rapid
Metro Rapid is a bus rapid transit service in Los Angeles County, California that operates in mixed traffic environments and has fewer stops than the Metro Local service. The system is mainly operated by LACMTA. Two routes are operated by Santa Monica Transit and one by Culver City Transit...

: 740
August 12, 1995
Crenshaw *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 126, 210
*Metro Rapid
Metro Rapid
Metro Rapid is a bus rapid transit service in Los Angeles County, California that operates in mixed traffic environments and has fewer stops than the Metro Local service. The system is mainly operated by LACMTA. Two routes are operated by Santa Monica Transit and one by Culver City Transit...

: 710, 757
August 12, 1995
Vermont *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 204, 206, 209
*Metro Rapid
Metro Rapid
Metro Rapid is a bus rapid transit service in Los Angeles County, California that operates in mixed traffic environments and has fewer stops than the Metro Local service. The system is mainly operated by LACMTA. Two routes are operated by Santa Monica Transit and one by Culver City Transit...

: 754
August 12, 1995
Harbor Freeway *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 45, 81, 120, 445, 450X, 550
Silver Line  Harbor Transitway
Harbor Transitway
The Harbor Transitway is an 11-mile shared-use bus corridor and high-occupancy vehicle roadway that runs in the median of Interstate 110 in Southern California...


*Metro Rapid
Metro Rapid
Metro Rapid is a bus rapid transit service in Los Angeles County, California that operates in mixed traffic environments and has fewer stops than the Metro Local service. The system is mainly operated by LACMTA. Two routes are operated by Santa Monica Transit and one by Culver City Transit...

: 745
Avalon *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 48, 51, 52, 53, 352
August 12, 1995
Imperial/Wilmington *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 55, 120, 121, 205, 355, 612
Blue Line
*Gardena Transit: 5
August 12, 1995
Long Beach *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 60, 251
*Metro Rapid
Metro Rapid
Metro Rapid is a bus rapid transit service in Los Angeles County, California that operates in mixed traffic environments and has fewer stops than the Metro Local service. The system is mainly operated by LACMTA. Two routes are operated by Santa Monica Transit and one by Culver City Transit...

: 760
August 12, 1995
Lakewood *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 117, 265, 266
August 12, 1995
Norwalk *Metro Local
Metro Local
Metro Local is a bus system in Los Angeles County operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . This retronym designation was placed to differentiate it from the Metro Rapid service...

: 111, 115, 121, 125, 270, 311
*Metro Express
Metro Express
Metro Express is a form of express bus service in Los Angeles County, California, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Buses are usually express for a portion of the route, then run either local or limited stop in other areas...

: 460, 577X

External links

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