Test trains cross Green Line junction for Crenshaw/LAX Line signal system testing

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If you were in the LAX area this past weekend, you may have noticed a train where no train was before.

Metro has begun testing train signals and software systems for the Crenshaw/LAX Line at the Green Line junction — where the Crenshaw/LAX Line tracks merge with the Green Line. The test run took place just east of Aviation/LAX Station. The video above shows the view from the train cab as it traveled between the Green Line junction and 111th Street.

Signal system testing will continue over the next few weeks. No train testing has taken place at any at-grade crossings yet. We encourage you to sign up for project updates to get updates on when that will occur. The train testing will be done in segments to asses the functionality of the system and ensure safe operation for the future light rail line.

The Crenshaw/LAX Line is anticipated to be complete in 2020.

The Green Line will also resume regular weekend service starting Friday, Sept. 27 between Redondo Beach and Hawthorne/Lennox Station.

Categories: Transportation News

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11 replies ›

  1. The Crenshaw Line will add ANOTHER at-grade rail line, clogging surface streets for train crossings, and slowing down rail train to wait for traffic signals. Add that to overcrowded trains at rush hours and you have another multi-billion dollar project completed to encourage MORE people to drive to work. Good job Metro.

  2. hopefully the trains that run on the wye will run faster than the test train on what appears to be a sped-up video.

    The Gold Line S-curve south of Union Station over the 101 is painstakingly slow.

    • Hi,

      Because it is a test train, the speed is very restricted.

      Anna Chen
      Writer, The Source

  4. Wish you guys weren’t killing the commute for those of us loyal riders who have ridden the Green Line from Southeast LA to the South Bay to work for years. Time to be another car on the 105.

    • My understanding is that Janice Hahn convinced the board to pass a 1-year pilot that maintains the existing Green line. Half the trains will turn north on the Crenshaw and half will turn south on the existing line, if I’m not mistaken.

  5. How is Metro planning on handling the extra capacity on the Expo Line when the Crenshaw / LAX line opens 2020? As indicated in the final EIR / EIS for the Crenshaw Line, most of its activity centers fall outside the study area, requiring transfers to / from the Expo line at its northern terminus.

    Yet, as we’ve now seen from recent press reports (see Laura Nelson’s 9/22/19 LA Times article), the Expo Line already is near capacity for peak hour service: “Metro trains move fastest through the area if they run at even-numbered intervals of six minutes, eight minutes or 10 minutes, [Metro senior executive officer Conan] Cheung said. The most frequent service Metro could operate on the Expo Line is a three-car train every five minutes during rush hour, he said, but the signal timing precludes that.”

    So what are Metro’s plans for dealing with Crenshaw / LAX riders when they connect up with existing Expo service ? Will we be into even more serious overcrowding problems.?

    I’ve yet to see anyone at Metro address this issue.

    • This would be solved by bringing the flower street segment of the line to rapid transit standards, as it is currently a glorified streetcar service unable to handle the passenger loads coming from across the region to our bustling downtown. This is the exact same problem that shut down the historic PE, which enjoyed rapid-transit quality until it was forced into the streets near downtown and slowed to a crawl. I would call the “Flower Problem” the most pressing issue facing the rail network today, aside from the need for new lines.

      I see the solution as an elevated structure built across the street from the current route, to maintain service during construction, then converting the old right of way into roadway after the switch over- a flip of sorts. But we don’t have time to wait for Metro to finish building that, even if they started tomorrow, such is the need. We need emergency action, fast. We have to close off the smaller streets intersecting Flower and establish full signal priority for trains at the streets we can’t close.

    • To answer your question, though, Metro isn’t planning on addressing the “Flower Problem” or doing anything else to improve Expo’s lacking capacity. People who are paying attention have thought this through, and Metro isn’t.

    • The test train is a single rail car. Aviation/LAX Station is a 2-car platform.

      Anna Chen
      Writer, The Source