Comprehensive Rail Networks for Los Angeles

An entry in the LA Times Bottleneck Blog has an interesting pointer to a website called Get LA Moving (a project of The Transit Coalition). This website proposed a comprehensive rail network for Los Angeles that includes, among other things:

• The Bronze Line. 53 Miles of Track (47.3 Miles of New Track). The line begins near the Van Nuys Blvd/Foothill Freeway (I-210) intersection and continues south down Van Nuys to Ventura. East down Ventura to Sepulveda. It then continues down the Sepulveda Pass from Sepulveda/Ventura to the UCLA station at Strathmore/Westwood, with a small diversion to the Getty Center tram station. South down Westwood to Pico; and southwest down Pico to the eastern shoulder of the 405 Freeway. Southeasterly down the eastern shoulder of the 405 freeway to Culver; continuing southeasterly down Sepulveda to El Segundo; and south down the western shoulder of Sepulveda from El Segundo to Rosecrans at-grade. East down Rosecrans to the existing Green line tracks; and southeast down the Green Line ROW to Marine/Redondo Beach Ave. Southeast down the Harbor Subdivision ROW to the western shoulder of the 405 Fwy, continuing southeast to Hawthorne Blvd. South down Hawthorne Blvd. to the Harbor Subdivision ROW at 190th. Southeast down the Harbor Subdivision tracks at-grade to Crenshaw; continuing down the Harbor Subdivision to Normandie. South down Normandie to Pacific Coast Highway. East down PCH, continuing after the Los Alamitos Circle down Atherton to Bellflower, veering southeast to the Cal State Long Beach/Long Beach Veterans Hospital terminus at 7th Street/Campus Drive.
• The Lime Line. 24.2 Miles of Track (19.7 Miles of New Track). The line would extend west from the Glendale Galleria station down Broadway sharing tracks with the Gold line to the Valley Subdivision/Metrolink ROW, which rusn parallel to San Fernando Road. Northwest up the ROW at-grade to the Coast Subdivision/Metrolink ROW; continuing at-grade down the ROW to Sherman Way. West down Sherman Way to Reseda; and north up Reseda Blvd to Nordhoff. West down Norhoff to the Coast Subdivision/Metrolink ROW; and north up the ROW at-grade to the Chatsworth Metrolink station terminus.
• The Gold Line. 37.2 Miles of Track (33.5 Miles of New Track). The line would extend west from the Old Town Pasadena station down Walnut to the 134 freeway; continuing west to Colorado Blvd. West down Colorado Blvd to Broadway; continuing west down Broadway to the Valley Subdivision/Metrolink ROW parallel to San Fernando Road. Northwest up the ROW at-grade to Olive Street; and southwest down Olive to North Pass Ave. Southwest under Universal Studios to Ventura/Lankershim. West down Ventura to Wilbur; and north up Wilbur to the southern shoulder of the Ventura (101) Freeway to Canoga Ave. North up Canoga Ave to the Burbank Branch/San Fernando Valley Busway ROW near Vanowen to Plummer; continuing north up the Coast Subdivision ROW at-grade to the Chatsworth Metrolink station terminus.

This would make it easy to get to work. Bike to Northridge Fashion Center, and thenk take the Lime Line to the Bronze Line to the Green Line.

I do think the proposal has some problems. It abandons (or makes into a trolley) the current portion of the green line between Imperial/Aviation to Rosecrans. I’d keep that as an alternate terminus for the Green Line — it is important because of the rail maintenance yards. In fact, the one thing many of these fancy plans do is forget the maintenance and storage yards, especially for lines that have different types of equipment or power. That is a significant concern, especially for lines that move from at-grade to elevated to below-grade. For some, you prefer overhead catenary, and for others, third-rail. I do think the proposal is better in its valley coverage than the proposal developed by Numan Parada, although Numan’s map does a better job for the Green Line. It certainly is an improvement over the current approach.

Will we ever see this? Who knows. But the maps are pretty and fun to look at, and one can always dream 🙂