Metro Rail (Los Angeles County)

As a Los Angeles Metro Rail is referred to the metro and light rail network of Los Angeles County. It is operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (abbr. LACMTA ), and consists of six lines, of which two lines of full - metros (Heavy Rail) and the other four lines rail lines ( light rail ) are.

According to recent statistics from October 2013, the system is used every working day an average of about 372,000 people. Compared to European transport systems in cities of comparable size, this is rather little. In contrast, the total length of the system, with only about 140 km, is also small. However, the passenger numbers are comparable to the BART system in San Francisco, about 330,000 trips every day settles at about 160 km length. Due to the increase in fuel prices, passenger numbers have risen sharply in recent years. The voters of Los Angeles County have approved an additional half -percent value-added tax for the benefit of the public transport system in November 2008.

Since Los Angeles is one of the major world centers for film and television productions, the stations and trains of the system are often the scene of scenes of famous movies such as Collateral, Speed ​​and The Italian Job.

History

Today, hardly known is the fact that Los Angeles had at the beginning of the 20th century one of the longest tram networks in the world. The two operators of this network were the Pacific Electric Railway and Los Angeles Railway. The Red Cars of the Pacific Electric Railway linked already at that time the cities that still belong to the entire Greater Los Angeles area. The Yellow Cars of Los Angeles Railway served the other hand, with a dense network of lines today's downtown Los Angeles and the inner suburbs. Earlier than in most other cities, however, dominated the Los Angeles automobile traffic and the traffic and city planning. Thus, since the 30s began to shut down a tram line to the other. In 1963, the last tram lines were eventually abandoned. Among other cities, Los Angeles in this case was involved in the Great American streetcar scandal.

A good 20 years later it was recognized that the state of the automotive city is not particularly forward-looking, and one began to plan the network today. During construction of the new routes had to be responding to the particular problem of the earthquakes in Los Angeles. You should be able to withstand earthquakes of 7.5 on the Richter scale. Because of this and also because of the fact that the Greater Los Angeles is much more densely populated today than a hundred years ago, the construction of a new rail transit system has become much more expensive and time-consuming than the construction of that network, which was shut down.

System

The railway network of the Los Angeles Metro consists of two separate systems: the rail network ( Light Rail ), whose routes mostly run above ground and whose features reflect the driving current from an overhead line, and the subway network ( heavy rail ), which runs entirely underground and with a busbar is operated. Both systems currently extend underground for a length of 141.1 kilometers together, of which 28 km. The number of stops is 87, including 16 on the underground sections. At the central transfer hubs so far, the stations Union Station and 7th St / Metro Center have developed. The former is the terminus of the Red Line and the Purple Line, as well as the Gold Line station. In addition, there is the possibility to switch to the Metrolink and Amtrak trains. 7th St / Metro Center, colloquially abbreviated to "Seventh and Metro", is just south of Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles and serves as the terminus of the Blue Line and the Expo Line. There is also a connection to the Red Line and the Purple Line.

The system of Metro Los Angeles also three express bus lines are numbered: The 22.5 km long Orange Line, the El Monte Busway and Harbor Transitway of.

Subway

• The Red Line ( heavy rail ) runs from Union Station to North Hollywood. From the city center, starting the entire route runs underground to the northwest. The first section between Union Station and the Station Westlake / MacArthur Park was opened in 1993. The next Metro Station Wilshire / Vermont, the ( Purple Line today ) was opened in 1996 along with the Mid- Wilshire - Streckenast, the Red Line branches off to the north to follow the course of Vermont Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard. This extension was completed in 1999, the provisional endpoint was the station Hollywood / Highland. In 2000 the line was then expanded to include the stations Universal City and North Hollywood. The latter, the current end point of the red line. Currently, the Red Line is used weekday average of 150,000 passengers. Of the current lines of the Metro Los Angeles it therefore has the greatest number of passengers. On the Red Line, as well as on the Purple Line come from six units existing railcars of the Italian manufacturer AnsaldoBreda used. The official name of the red line is Line A or Line 802

• The Purple Line ( heavy rail ) runs from Union Station to Mid - Wilshire. It is also a full subway line that runs starting from the center to the west. In 1993, the first part of the track between Union Station and Westlake / MacArthur Park was opened as part of the red line, three years later, then up to Mid - Wilshire station to Wilshire / Western was extended. In 1999, the Red Line a second Streckenast to the north, which is why the line from then on had two endpoints on the northwest side. In 2006 it was decided the smaller part of the red line as a standalone Purple Line to lead because the line will be extended in the future Wilshire Boulevard toward Beverly Hills. Today, the stations between Union Station and the bifurcation of the old route will be operated by both the violet and the red line. The official name is Line 805 As a former part of the red line also being the name Line A is used.

Rail

• The Blue Line ( light rail ) runs from the Metro Center in downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach. It was opened in 1990 as the first modern light rail line from Los Angeles. Since the closure of the last tram Los Angeles had no rail-based public transport thus 27 years. The route runs from the central underground station 7th Street / Metro Center ( with connections to the red and purple line ) to the south. Between Metro Center and Pico Blue Line comes to the surface, where it remains to Long Beach. In Imperial / Wilmington station to cross the green line. Behind the Anaheim station shares the route. The coming of downtown Los Angeles trains the last four stations in a large loop to drive the Pacific terminus of directly back to Anaheim. On the Blue Line to come in Japan (Nippon Sharyo ) and Germany (Siemens) manufactured trains are used, which are a mixture of road and rail vehicles. The Blue Line carries the official term Line 801 or Line B.

• The Green Line ( light rail ) runs from Redondo Beach to Norwalk. It was taken in 1995 in operation and runs mostly above-ground in the middle strip of the Century Freeway. At the station, Century / Aviation, there is connection to Los Angeles International Airport, at Imperial / Wilmington it crosses the blue line. Since 2000, vehicles previously manufactured in Japan which are today mostly on the Blue Line trains traveling mainly manufactured by Siemens are used. Internally, the Green Line D Line or Line called 803.

• The Gold Line ( light rail ) runs from East Los Angeles through Union Station to Pasadena. It is the third city railroad in the Los Angeles Metro. The first phase from the city center to the north-east location, Pasadena was taken in July 2003. The final stop is currently Sierra Madre Villa in the city of Pasadena. In the southeast, an extension to eight stops was (two underground) provided from Union Station to East Los Angeles completed in November 2009. The end point here is the Atlantic Station. In addition, the line is currently being extended from Pasadena eastward across Downtown Azusa ( Azusa ) to Montclair ( Montclair ( California)). The first stage to Azusa began on 26 June 2010. Moreover, a further extension to neighboring San Bernardino County of Los Angeles - Ontario Airport was by local politicians brought into play. If the extensions to Mont Clair be realized in an easterly direction, would be the gold line with a length of 51 miles (80 km ) the longest rail line of the United States. On the Gold Line are both manufactured in Germany by Siemens LRVs ( P2000 ), as well as rail cars AnsaldoBreda ( Breda P2550 ) are used. The Golden Line Officially referred to as C Line and is formally the number line 804

• The Expo Line ( Light Rail ) will connect in the future the city center with the Pacific Coast in Santa Monica. She is the fourth and currently newest city railroad in the Los Angeles Metro. On 28 April 2012, the first about 12 km long section between stops 7th Street / Metro Center and La Cienaga went into operation. The route branches off behind the station from Pico together with the blue line used track and leads from there to above ground and approximately parallel to the north -lying Purple Line. On 20 June 2012, two more stations were opened on the provisional terminus of the first phase of construction Culver City Street. With the second phase of the Expo Line will be extended from there to Santa Monica. This is since September 2011 under construction and will be completed in 2016.

Metroliner

• The Orange Line ( Metrobus ) is a special bus that also runs under the umbrella of the Los Angeles County Metro Rail. It is advertised by this as " light rail on rubber tires " (light rail on rubber tires). It is a 18 meters long articulated buses operated express bus, which runs on special lanes and priority between its own North Hollywood, the current terminus of the Red Line and Warner Center in the suburb of Woodland Hills. To the character as express bus also contributes to the fact that the individual stops are about a mile apart. The stations are equipped with park - and-ride parking. The Orange Line is also operated as a railway line, must so far as to buy the ticket before boarding; however, the stops stays are not mandatory if no one wants to get in or out.

The opening of the 22.5km line was on 29 October 2005. In October 2008, more than 25,000 daily passengers in the buses of the Orange Line counted, so that it at times been difficult to get a place. For this reason, the introduction of 20-meter bus is tested for some time. On June 30, 2012, the 6 km long extension to the Amtrak station was put into operation in Chatsworth.

• The set up in 2009 Silverline ( Metrobus ) runs between the stations El Monte and Artesia Transit Center in the southern suburb of San Pedro. It has taken from El Monte to Union Station and Figueroa / Adams to the Artesia Transit Center own lanes available, called the El Monte Busway or Harbor Transitway. The Harbor Transitway seen from the Harbor Freeway from.