This Wednesday night after 8 p.m., the Metro Blue Line will run every 40 minutes between 7th Street/Metro Center and Willowbrook Station due to essential track maintenance that is part of the ongoing Blue Line improvement project. (For more about why the work requires such a long wait between trains, continue reading after the jump).

Trains will serve the remainder of the Blue Line, between Willowbrook and Long Beach, every 20 to 30 minutes after 8 p.m. This means every other northbound train will display a destination sign that reads “Willowbrook” or “Imperial” and will turn back to Long Beach upon reaching Willowbrook Station.

For Blue Line departure times from 7th Street/Metro Center and Downtown Long Beach Station, please refer to Metro’s Service Advisories page. Please note that the Metro Expo Line will also be running every 20 minutes after 7:30 p.m. this Wednesday night, for separate maintenance.

For those commuting between downtown L.A. and the Metro Green Line on Wednesday evening, consider using the Metro Silver Line if you arrive at 7th/Metro Center or Willowbrook Station when there is still a 40 minute wait until the next train. Extra buses will run on the Silver Line after 9 p.m., Wednesday night, increasing the level of service to approximately every 20 minutes. At Harbor Freeway Station, Green Line trains will follow a regular evening schedule, departing every 20 minutes.

So, why the exceptionally long wait for Blue Line trains between DTLA and Willowbrook? It has to do with the location and type of required maintenance. The work this Wednesday evening is related to rehabilitation of the Blue Line train control/signaling system. To complete this task, old sections of rail containing embedded components are being replaced with new sections of rail with updated components. Because the work is occurring directly on a switch point, or crossover, trains traveling in both directions must take turns sharing a significantly larger segment of track than they would during routine maintenance.

Metro would like to thank all Blue Line customers for their understanding as we work to improve the Blue Line signaling system. For information on additional Blue Line upgrades, please visit the project page or see this previous Source post.