Over the summer, we launched an 8-week contest to find a new name for the West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor project, a proposed 14.5-mile light rail line that will pass through southeast LA County and the Gateway Cities. We were amazed by the results! Nearly 1,000 of you participated, submitting over 1,200 project name recommendations. Clearly, the excitement for this project is palpable. People of all backgrounds and ages participated, ranging from teenagers to older folks who remember riding the Red Cars back in the 1940s and 1950s.
Our panel of five judges carefully reviewed all your submissions, looking for names that spoke to the cultures and histories of the corridor cities that the new rail line hopes to unify. After much deliberation, they chose 12 finalists, listed below:
- Calafia
- Esperanza
- Gateway Cities
- Los Angeles Gateway
- Los Rios
- Pioneer
- Pórtico
- Ruta Segura
- Southeast
- Southeast Gateway
- The Heartland Connection
- Tongva
Have a favorite? Let us know! To cast your vote –– you’ll get to select your three top names –– please visit RenameWSAB.com. The deadline is Sunday, December 17, 2023. As a token of appreciation, one lucky participant will be randomly selected to win a $100 gift card.
The name with the most votes will be selected as the official project name, which we’ll announce in January 2024. The name will remain in place through construction until the start of revenue service, at which point, it will receive a new line letter and color.
So what are you waiting for? Cast your vote … and help shape the identity of a project that is poised to transform the region.
Categories: Transportation News
Since it won’t connect with DTLA I vote for “useless”
Southeast Gateway Corridor
Service name: R Line (Bronze)
Oh yeah , lets also get building this – we shouldn’t have to wait a decade to ride it.
Crenshaw Line is “Pink” and “K”
Since ESFV line is starting construction it should probably be “L” and make the color one off since its an isolated line from the rest of the city & system.
I would say WSAB should start construction next, be the “M” line and I vote “Yellow”
as best remaining color. Southeast line or Gateway Cities Line
ESFV should be “N” and the NoHo-Pas should be “L” imo.
“M” is ‘illegal’ to use. It’s already the authority’s logo.
I’m sorry but the fact that the Mayor wasn’t even aware of why this was called “West Santa Ana branch” is quite pathetic but hey I guess she is also the embodiment of the people of LA when you actually think about it.
Metro is partially at fault for all this. Giving it a name just to assign it a letter and color later is ridiculous. Either get rid of this idiotic naming system or give it a letter and color NOW!!! Stop confusing current and future patrons just because you’re required to go through these idiotic loopholes. This only further taints the agency’s name even further.
I’m casting my top three names…
* Los Rios
* Portico
* Esperanza
Why do they need a contest (?) to name the line when it should be obvious that the name should be the letter names of the new line and the end destination. I voted for Pioneer. Since they aren’t satisfied with the obvious choice, the other name should be Southeast Gateway. I used to live in Cerritos. I never knew it was a “Gateway City”. It’s so ridiculous. “West Santa Ana” was always a dumb name. Why they couldn’t change it from the beginning is ridiculous. The explanation makes no sense. It sounds like they were forced by convention and bureaucracy, but mostly inertia and laziness.
I’d like to see what was written by people who rode the Red Cars on this line in the 40s & 50s. In 1950, passenger service on the Santa Ana line was cut back to Bellflower, and in May 1958 the line was converted to bus service, LAMTA and SCRTD line 34. It ran down Alameda St, then zig-zagged thru Lynwood, Paramount and Bellflower.
Giving the lines letter names is a BAD idea. There are NINE letters in the alphabet all of which rhyme with E and on an overhead sound system, they all sound ALIKE. Go with colors and proper names! Get creative, like the people who picked these names are!