LA Metro D-Line Expo Purple Line Incl.: Crenshaw/LAX Westside LRT

Metro K line cab view from Expo/Crenshaw to Westchester - YouTube

I've found several other videos, about this now-open line, like Riding the Metro k line up and back. Full ride - YouTube

Metro’s K Line Is Open! Rail Returns to Crenshaw Boulevard, the Heart of Black Los Angeles – Streetsblog Los Angeles - "Metro expects to open another light rail project – the downtown L.A. Regional Connector subway – in early 2023, likely in or around February."

Foothill Gold Line - the line's bridges are taking shape, including bridges over intersections. A delivery of rail -- by rail. The Gold Line parallels a branchline that was used by a train with a big load of rail for the new line. Also, Thermite welding of the rails.

Projects Archive - LA Metro has a big list, including some regional-rail projects.

• Link Union Station (Link US) - LA Metro - "The Link US project proposes the integration of new run-through tracks on an elevated rail yard to improve operational flexibility and expand capacity at Los Angeles Union Station (LAUS)."
• Lone Hill Avenue to White Avenue Double-Track Project - LA Metro in San Dimas and Verne on the San Bernardino line
• Brighton to Roxford Double-Track (Regional Rail) - LA Metro in Burbank and Sylmar
• Antelope Valley Line Capacity and Service Improvements Program - LA Metro - some double-tracking and the like

The Los Angeles Metrorail Regional Connector is now in service, including its three Downtown-LA stations: Grand Av Arts/Bunker Hill, Historic Broadway, Little Tokyo/Arts District​.

The light-rail L-Gold line ran San Gabriel Valley - East LA, but it is no more. In its place:

A-Blue Long Beach - SGV
E-Gold: Santa Monica - E LA

Regional Connector - LA Metro - announcement of opening
Regional Connector Transit Project - LA Metro

Someone's first ride through it:
The New Regional Connector! - YouTube

Includes the RC itself at 44m - 51 m. The SGV and E LA lines branching is at 47 m.
Metro A Line Cab View: Azusa - Long Beach - YouTube

Interesting how things sometimes work out; the A line is what was originally planned -- frpm Long Beach to Pasadena. Then there was an uproar about cost overruns and other things on the Red Line resulting in a popular initiative (as I recall) decreeing NO MORE SUBWAYS IN LA until the politicians cooled down, and a few elections later the prohibition was removed. In the meantime, the Blue Line got no farther than 7th & Flower and the line to East LA was placed in service, tied onto the Pasadena line at Union Station, requiring a change to the Red Line there and then to the Blue Line at 7th and Flower. Now, tantrum over, with the completion of this new connection a one-seat ride from Long Beach to Pasadena (and beyond) is now possible.

https://pedestrianobservations.com/2023 ... coherence/

The Regional Connector and Network Coherence

The Regional Connector just opened in Los Angeles. This is a short, expensive tunnel permitting through-running for the city’s main light rail lines, linking the A Line (formerly Blue) with the half of L (formerly Gold) to Pasadena and Azusa and the E (formerly Expo) with the half of the L to East Los Angeles. It’s a welcome development and I only regret that this line cost, in 2022 dollars, $660 million per km. The broader question about the line, though, is that of line pairing and network coherence.

Network coherence is a nebulous concept. I can best define it as “it looks reasonable on a map,” but then the number of railfan crayons that violate coherence principles is so large that it has to be defined more precisely. Usually I talk about it in two concrete ways: a rapid transit network should avoid reverse-branching and tangential lines.

But there are some more concerns, which are less obvious than those two, and also appropriate to violate in some cases. My previous post on New York alludes to the principle of consistency of local and express trains, which is good to aspire to but may conflict with other priorities. In fact, the current pattern in Los Angeles is coherent: trains go north-south on the new A Line or east-west on the new E Line; the question, posed to me by a supporter (thank you!), is whether it should be. I think this is right, but it’s not obvious (in fact it wasn’t to the reader who posed this question).
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https://thesource.metro.net/2023/07/03/138605/

A look at crossovers on Purple (D Line) Extension’s first section
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Technically, the double crossovers in the La Brea and La Cienega stations are “guarded,” meaning a second rail at the switch offers protection that the trains stay on the track and allows them to crossover at higher speeds.

The La Brea and La Cienega stations are approximately 200 to 300 feet longer to accommodate the crossovers, although crossovers vary in length. The longer the crossover, the faster a train can be traveling when it switches from one track to another.

The crossovers are necessary — and also make an already complex project even more complicated because of the station lengths and accomodations that need to be made for the switches.
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Tunneling Complete: LATimes.com

L.A. Metro’s D Line hits a milestone: Tunneling is complete for expansion to the Westside

After five years of construction and numerous delays, crews have finished tunneling operations for the 9-mile westward expansion of the Metro D Line, which will stretch from the current terminus in Koreatown to a new Westwood/VA Hospital Station.

The expansion project will add seven Metro stations and a high-speed connection from downtown Los Angeles to the Westside, according to L.A. Metro’s website. Construction of the $9.5-billion project began in 2019.
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The extension of the D Line, also known as the Purple Line, is taking place in three phases in sections that are roughly 3 miles long each.
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What a relief. Good that that's now done. From the pages at Projects Archive - LA Metro their current completion target dates are

• 1: 2025 ... Wilshire - La Brea ... Wilshire - Fairfax ... Wilshire - La Cienega
• 2: 2026 ... Wilshire - Rodeo ... Century City - Constellation
• 3: 2027 ... Westwood - UCLA ... Westwood - VA Hospital

Elsewhere,
Los Angeles International Airport people mover delayed again; won't open until 2025
noting
Fitch Downgrades LINXS (LAX People Mover Project) Sr Revs to BB+; Rating Outlook Negative

Extended Construction Delays: The project has experienced extended construction delays, prolonged dispute resolution, and difficulties in the parties' working relationship. Although significant construction progress has been made, the project is required to undergo a rigorous testing and commissioning process and is not expected to be completed until April 2025.

Inglewood Transit Connector Project (ITC) | Envision Inglewood

The Inglewood Transit Connector is an approximately 1.6 mile fully elevated, automated, fixed-guideway transit system with three new transit stations in the City of Inglewood.

It will have a station at the Market St. / Florence Ave. station of the Crenshaw/LAX (K) line, and go southeastward then southward from there, to stops at Prairie Ave. / Manchester Blvd. and Prairie Ave. / Hardy St.

It will go near the Kia Forum, SoFi Stadium, and Intuit Dome.

It will be a sizable walk:

• Prairie-Manchester -- Kia Forum 600 ft 2 m -- SoFi Stadium 2,200 ft 8 m
• Prairie-Hardy --SoFi Stadium 1,700 ft 6 m -- Intuit Dome 1,800 ft 7 m

The times are for a walk speed of 3 mph, and i measure distances between the street-intersection centers and the closest parts of the stations.

Inglewood Transit Connector - Wikipedia

News Flash • INGLEWOOD TRANSIT CONNECTOR PROJECT RECEIVES CO - January 4, 2024

The Inglewood Transit Connector (ITC) Project received a green light for an investment of $1,009,430,998 in federal funds, moving the project an important step toward full funding. The news comes with the approval of the project for entry into the Engineering phase of project development under the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Capital Investment Grant (CIG) program and represents a commitment from FTA to cover 50% of the anticipated total cost of the project.

...
To date, the project has already secured $873 million in local, State and federal funds. The City and JPA will work to leverage those committed funds and the CIG grant to close a narrowing gap in construction, maintenance and operating costs.

In addition to securing the federal funds, the ITC team is in the process of securing a team to implement the project. Three prequalified teams are now preparing bids, with a best value proposer anticipated to be chosen in the summer of 2024. Pending the assemblage of all necessary Project funding, the JPA will then authorize design and construction to begin.

Foothill Gold Line - recent progress reports:

Foothill Gold Line E-News Update – May 2024 Project and Community Updates - 05/23/2024 02:25 PM PDT

"The Glendora to Pomona segment remains on time and on budget to be completed and turned over to LA Metro in just seven months."

The line's builders have connected the extension's tracks to the existing system's tracks, and they expect to start tests on the line by this summer. As of that newsletter's publication date, the stations are now over 70% done.

In addition, the procurement process to hire the design-build team for the 3.2-mile, two-station Pomona to Montclair project segment will soon reach its next step, when responses to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) are due next month.

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In late-December 2023, Metro submitted a full funding request to CalSTA for the funding needed to complete the Los Angeles County portion of the final project segment from Pomona to Montclair.

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While the Construction Authority awaits the official funding announcement, the procurement process to hire the design-build team continues.

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Once funding is secured and a design-build team hired, the shovel-ready Pomona to Montclair segment will take approximately five years to complete.

Project Progress - Q2 2024 - YouTube - May 9, 2024
Track: 100%, bridgework: 100%, grade crossings: 100%, train control: 100%, traction-power substations: 100%, real estate: 100%, walls & fences: 96%, overhead-cable systems: 91%, stations: 69%.

Overall: 69%, expecting "substantial completion" by January 2025.

Seems like the extension will open early next year. It will be an extension of the A/Blue line.

The K/Pink line may not go south of Westchester/Veterans anytime soon. It awaits the opening of the LAX airport light-rail system.

LAX's long-promised rail link, the People Mover, likely delayed until late 2025 - Los Angeles Times - March 29, 2024 Updated 5:05 PM PT

The project, which was originally planned for 2023, was expected to finish in 2024 but may not be ready until late 2025, according to Fitch Ratings.

...
The project is about 96% complete, Fitch said, but ongoing issues could prolong its completion.

Budget grows for LAX people mover as testing begins | Urbanize LA - "The 2.25-mile system is scheduled to open for passengers in late 2025"

LAX Airport on X: "LAWA has achieved an important milestone with the first Automated People Mover train car now in its initial testing phase. This signifies ongoing progress as we work to deliver this innovative project that'll transform the airport experience. #LAXTransformation (pic link)" / X

The LAX People mover has a name SkyLink : r/LAMetro - with a picture of a sign with "SkyLink" on it.

East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project - LA Metro - "Anticipated Southern Segment start of construction: mid-2024" - the southern part goes from Van Nuys G/Orange Line to Van Nuys / San Fernando, and the northern part from there to Sylmar / San Fernando.

Planning continues on other extensions.

Get to know our recommendation for the C Line Extension to Torrance: the Hybrid Alternative! | The Source - April 20, 2024

Read the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 2 | The Source - April 30, 2024
East LA to Whittier

The Final Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) is now available for the Southeast Gateway Line — here’s how to leave a comment | The Source - April 8, 2024
Slauson A/Blue station - Artesia

Los Angeles Metro Rail - Wikipedia

• State funds Pomona-to-Montclair light rail, first LA Metro project to San Bernardino County – Daily News
• California Approves Nearly $2 Billion for Public Transit | CalSTA
• State to release funds for A Line's Pomona-to-Montclair extension | Urbanize LA

On July 8, the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) released $500 million for this project, along with other transit-project funding totaling $1.9 billion. The remaining $298 million is to be released late this year.

Construction was earlier cut back to Pomona to save money, and this extension will go 3.2 miles from there to Claremont and Montclair. Construction should start next year, and be done by 2030.

Along the A/Gold light-rail line is what remains of the Pasadena Subdivision - Wikipedia starting a little east of I-605.

The light-rail line runs north of that branchline from the branch line's end eastward to S Lone Hill Ave. where the LR line crosses over that branchline and then runs south of that branchline to its current end at Pomona.

Glendora to Montclair | Foothill Gold Line links to pages about the stations.

The Pomona LR station will be just north of that town's LA Metrolink station, and the LR line will likely go over the branchline where the branchline branches off the San Bernardino Metrolink line. The LR line is planned to be north of the Metrolink line at Claremont and Montclair, so the Metrolink line will have to be moved southward to accommodate it. The Metrolink line is double-tracked between White Ave., a little west of Pomona station, and Central Ave., a little east of Montclair station.

The Claremont Metrolink station will be relocated eastward from just west of College Ave. to the south end of Columbia Ave, at the east end of the station's parking lot. The Claremont LR station will be just west of College Ave.

The Montclair LR station will be just north of the Metrolink station.

I found this xweet about Metro Purple Line tunneling:
Metro Los Angeles on X: "GREAT NEWS!
we’ve finished tunneling 9 miles of twin tunnels for the Purple (D Line) Extension btwn Wilshire/Western and the VA in Westwood. (vid link)" / X
It has a cutesy video showing the TBM's as Pac-Man chompers that leave lines behind them. Also with plenty of sound effects from the original Pac-Man arcade machine.

• Wilshire / La Brea -- Wilshire / Western -- June 2019
• Wilshire / La Brea -- Wilshire / Fairfax -- May 2020
• Wilshire / Fairfax -- Wilshire / La Cienega -- March 2021
• Century City -- Wilshire / Rodeo -- January 2022
• Westwood / VA Hospital -- Westwood / UCLA -- February 2022
• Wilshire / Rodeo -- Wilshire / La Cienega -- February 2023
• Westwood / UCLA -- Century City -- April 2024

That video's tunneling directions, with which extension number:

• 1: Wilshire / La Brea -- Wilshire / Western -- inward
• 1: Wilshire / La Brea -- Wilshire / Fairfax -- Wilshire / La Cienega -- outward
• 2: Century City -- Wilshire / Rodeo -- Wilshire / La Cienega -- inward
• 3: Westwood / VA Hospital -- Westwood / UCLA -- Century City -- inward

Opening dates: 1: 2025, 2: 2026, 3: 2027.