New tracks have been installed along the southern half of the Blue Line as part of the New Blue Improvements Project. Check out the video above to learn more about construction!
Work on the Blue Line will switch from south to north on June 1. Here are the details:
•Blue Line Southern Segment stations are reopening on June 1 (between Downtown Long Beach Station and Compton Station).
•Blue Line Northern Segment stations will be out of service starting June 1 through September 2019 (between Compton Station and 7th St/Metro Center).
•The Blue Line at Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station will be out of service through September 2019.
•The Green Line at Willowbrook/Rosa Parks will remain in service.
•Two Stations on the Expo Line will be out of service from June 22 through August 2019 (Pico Station and 7th St/Metro Center).
•The Red and Purple Lines will continue to run regular service and serve 7th St/Metro Center.
Bus shuttles will be provided during the north closure, you can click the link for a PDF of the shuttle maps, or see the maps below. The Blue Line 860 Express shuttle will continue during the north closure with the same bus stop locations, hours and frequencies.
To improve service reliability and move more people through the urban center, Metro and LADOT are implementing an evening peak, temporary bus-only lane on southbound Flower St., between 7th St. and 28th St./I-110 Freeway entrance. The bus lane pilot project will be in effect Monday through Friday, from 3 to 7 pm, starting May 31 until the New Blue Improvements Project is completed.
The New Blue Improvements Project aims to bring the Blue Line — Metro’s oldest light rail line and historically its busiest — up to the modern specifications of our newer rail lines. The idea is to reduce the number of delays and make the Blue Line far more reliable than it has been in recent years. Upgrades include an updated overhead power system, general station improvements, new train control bungalows, new digital customer information panels and more.
Categories: Projects
Saturday June 1 the south end of the blue line should reopens are the older nippon sharyo p2020 cars should be back to service after a 5 month long break.
Is there any news on whether the street lights in LB will be timed for the train once they start running again in two weeks?
Hi BR;
The city of Long Beach has a separate project to improve the timing of the traffic signals near the tracks. It’s our understanding that there will soon be testing of the system once trains are running again on southern section of the line.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
I hope the 863 has more extensive hours and 7 days ag week. This closure covers a much longer distance of the rail right of way on surface streets , and the local shuttle will be brutal as far as compounding travel times for those of us who do daily & nightly LA-LB commutes in off-peak hours
Are wood crossties being replaced with concrete?
Why doesn’t the MTA admit the predecessor company, LACTC, screwed up and built the Blue Line to non standard light rail specifications instead of standard gauge as the rest of the line rail lines have been built? Anyone who believes the rails wore out is only a fool and that is the reason for this huge project taking place.
When are you going to stop repeating this silly lie in multiple post comments? As Steve has said on various occasions, the Blue Line and all light rail lines in L.A. are indeed already standard gauge as originally built. If they weren’t, how would it be possible to run the same cars on both the Blue and the Green lines? The only non-standard gauge rail in California I’m aware of is on the BART system, which is wider.
I think I’ve seen you leave this comment before. The Blue Line WAS built to standard gauge, otherwise it wouldn’t be able to use the same cars as the Expo, Gold and Green lines.
How slow are you? The Blue Line was built to Standard Gauge specifications.
thank you for the detailed clarity of the work being done. These stories are incredibly helpful to understand the context of the changes and upgrades being made.