Lacmta Gold Line

The Metro Gold Line of the Los Angeles County Metro Rail is a Light Rail line in Los Angeles County . It is the newest rail addition to the Metro system. It operates between Downtown Los Angeles and eastern Pasadena .

The Southwest Museum , Chinatown, and the shops of Old Town Pasadena are some of the tourist attractions that can be accessed via the Gold Line.

HISTORY

A line through Pasadena was envisioned in the early 1990 s. The Gold Line was originally intended to be an extension of the Blue Line . Work began in 1999 with the Pasadena Blue Line Construction Authority. At the time, the line was 11% completed before the LACMTA took over.

However, once the Red Line was built, the construction instead for the line began at Union Station instead of 7th St . Because the line was disconnected from the Blue Line, the LACMTA decided to change the name. One proposed name was the ''Rose Line'', but because future extensions of the line would go beyond Pasadena (longtime home of the Rose Bowl Stadium and the Rose Parade ), the board selected the Gold Line, reportedly in tribute to early pioneers in the area who sought gold.

INFORMATION

The Gold Line, which opened in July 2003 , operates on the former right-of-way of the Atchison, Topeka And Santa Fe Railway , where "real" trains as well as the '' Southwest Chief '' and the '' Desert Wind '' once operated. The trains start out on an elevated rail line running between Union Station and Chinatown, and subsequently traverse the Los Angeles River and the adjacent Golden State Freeway before serving the hillside communities just north of downtown.

The line runs underground for a very short segment, after which it runs in the median of local streets in the neighborhood of Highland Park. After crossing the Pasadena Freeway using the historic Arroyo Seco Bridge , built in 1895, the Gold Line serves the city of South Pasadena , before moving on to downtown Pasadena . This part of the line contains a much longer underground segment of almost half a mile, where the line passes under Pasadena's main thoroughfare, Colorado Boulevard. The Memorial Park station, just beyond Colorado Boulevard, is below grade. The last leg of the Gold Line runs through the median of the Foothill Freeway , terminating at Sierra Madre Villa station.

At 15,300 average weekday boardings, Gold Line ridership has been below official projections, which has resulted in cuts in service during the middle of the day and at night. This should change with the opening of the now-under-construction East Los Angeles extension around 2009, the planned Azusa extenstion in 2010, and the eventual extension from Azusa to Montclair in 2015. Service currently operates every 15 minutes during the day with Limited Stop service during rush hour every half hour (see below), which is long by Los Angeles standards but is similar to other light rail lines in the United States such as the San Diego Trolley and UTA TRAX .

The Gold line uses 2-car trains. These car types are Siemens P2000 LRV's, the LRV standing for "Light Rail Vehicle." One car trains are used during the evenings and weekend mornings.

Issues

The major complaint from riders is that the Gold Line is extremely slow through the Highland Park area, where trains reach speeds of only 15 mph (25 km/h), and through the curves, where trains travel at about 25 mph (40 km/h); while the vehicles themselves can easily reach 60mph. South Pasadena residents (who were vocal against the Gold Line) complain about the bells and whistles at Gold Line crossings and on the trains. This can be seen when riding the train through banners hoisted by residents which say ''"NO BELLS, NO HORNS, SLOW TRAINS TO 20mph".'' At great expense, the crossing bells have been retrofitted to direct the sound towards the street and not to adjoining homes. Transit advocates have proposed running the line below grade through South Pasadena, as is done further north on the line in Pasadena, in order to reduce noise and traffic problems. However, no funds are available at this time for such a project.

Limited Stop Service

On February 13, 2006, for the first time in the Metro Rail system, the Gold Line began implementing Limited-stop service during rush hours in both directions, which according to the press release, cuts 5 minutes of total travel time from end-to-end. The only stations served by limited trains are Union Station , Highland Park , Mission, Del Mar, and Sierra Madre Villa. Limited trains run every 30 minutes in each direction during weekday rush hours. Originally, there were six express trains in each direction during the morning rush hours, but as of April 10, 2006, a service change was implemented, reducing the number of express trains to four in favor of more local trains. Additionally, all morning express trains to Sierra Madre Villa and three afternoon express trains to Union Station stop at Memorial Park station. {Link without Title}

Future Extensions

By 2009 , the new Eastside extension to Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, and East Los Angeles is scheduled to open. On December 19, 2005, tunnel boring machines were lowered into a pit at First Street and Boyle Avenue in Boyle Heights to begin the tunneling of twin 1.7 mile (2.8 km) long tunnels. This procedure was supposed to be completed in less than one year. There will be two underground stations located in these tunnels.

In addition, an extension of the Gold Line eastward from its terminus on the east side of Pasadena (officially called the "Foothill Extension"), to the city of Azusa is in the environmental review stage, with scheduled opening in 2010 and a future extension to Montclair opening in 2014 . This segment would be entirely above ground, with a small portion in the median of Interstate 210.

No construction funding has been assigned to this project; however, in the most recent federal transportation bill, funding was authorized to continue planning and conducting the environmental review process. Additionally, the construction authority continues to receive operational funding from all of the cities along the proposed alignment. While the extension to Azusa is under the auspices of the construction authority that constructed the Gold Line from Union Station to Pasadena, construction of the other extension from Union Station to East Los Angeles is under the direct control of the LACMTA . The Foothill Extension has strong political support from the governments of multiple cities along its proposed route, while the original segment went through only three jurisdictions (the cities of Los Angeles, South Pasadena and Pasadena). Due to this strong support among the participating cities as well the area's congressional delegation, eventual construction of the line seems likely.

LIST OF STATIONS

''Note: The opening dates are unknown at this time.''

EXTERNAL LINKS

MTA - Gold Line

Eastside Extension - East Los Angeles Extension info

Foothill Extension

Information About

Lacmta Gold Line