LA TRANSPO … MORE THAN CARS - We arrived at the Los Angeles Union Station at 7 a.m. to nurse a cup of Joe before boarding the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to San Juan Capistrano for lunch with friends. It was here that I arrived from the Midwest at age four in 1945 so I have vague memories of thousands of troops arriving/departing through the terminals.
Where else do you get beautiful Southern California rose gardens, interior walls covered in travertine marble, and large rooms with floors of terra cotta tile and a central strips of marble stone. Next sneak a peek at the massive beam ceilings and chandeliers. It is a beauty.
It boasts the very elegant Traxx Restaurant and numerous coffee shops. The place exudes charm, elegance, grace, and a golden age. It is what Grand Central in New York, Victoria Station in London, Gare d’Austerlitz in Paris, and Union Station in D.C. wish they were.
There are free Dodger Stadium shuttles on game days and daily LAX shuttles.
There are 14 outdoor platforms with tracks that span the city and the country and the subterranean platforms with tracks that span the city. More important it is the hub of the Los Angeles Metro Rail, the Metrolink, and Amtrak.
Metro Rail-The Rail consists of five separate lines serving 70 stations in the county. It has a daily weekday ridership of approximately 350,000. It has been extended significantly since it started service in 1990 and several further extensions are either in the works or being considered.
Metrolink-Metrolink currently consists of six lines and 55 stations using 512 miles of track. The system operates in Los Angeles County, San Diego County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and Ventura County. Average weekday ridership is 41,000.
Amtrak-By 1976, the once expansive rail network throughout California (as in the rest of the states) had declined to a point where rail travel in California was basic and infrequent. Caltrans Division of Rail was formed to oversee rail operations and the brand Amtrak started appearing on state- supported routes. Current routes that connect with the Union Station hub are the Pacific Surfliner, Coast Starlight, Southwest Chief, and Sunset Limited.
Current development that feeds and perpetuates the vitality of the hub is the following:
The Regional Connector system is currently in the works. It will connect the Gold Line, Blue Line, and Expo Line enabling passengers to travel from Montclair to Long Beach and from East Los Angeles to Santa Monica as a “one seat ride”.
By providing continuous through service between these lines, the Regional Connector will improve access to both local and regional destinations and greatly improve the connectivity of the transportation network for the region.
The Metro Green Line to LAX Project is examining ways to connect the Rail to LAX. The focus of this study is a four square mile area bounded by La Cienega Boulevard on the east, Manchester Avenue to the north, Imperial Highway to the south, and the LAX airport terminals on the west. This will include incorporation of the Green Line and the Crenshaw Line. Initial alternatives under consideration include Light Rail Transit (LRT), Automated People Mover (APM) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).
Metro is currently analyzing the various options for each transit type in order to narrow down the number of alternatives that will be carried forward to the environmental. This feature corrects the very poor design of the Green Line.
Construction of Expo phase 2 (dubbed the subway to the sea) started in September 2011 with a completion date of 2016. The east-west route follows primarily along Exposition Boulevard with a terminus station at 4th/Colorado Santa Monica about a ten-minute (half-mile) walk from the Pacific Ocean. It will reuse the right-of-way of the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad / Santa Monica Air Line which was closed in 1953 and will be the first passenger rail line to serve the Los Angeles Westside since the abandonment of the Pacific Electric Railway.
The most far-reaching Westside project, however, is the Wilshire/Purple Line extension to the 405 freeway and Wilshire VA Medical Center. Advances in technology and legal/funding clearance allow the extension of the Purple Line from its current terminus at Wilshire/Western and provides a second passenger rail line to the Westside that will likely carry several times the number of passengers of the Expo Line from Downtown along the busy Wilshire Corridor to the 405 Freeway, and perhaps someday to the ocean as well.
These tasks serve to tie together the Southern California community of 22,000,000 in the world’s largest and greatest public transportation grid that gets you there in comfort and convenience. All right here at LA’s Union Station … the Hub.
(Kay Martin is a writer and a new contributor to CityWatch. His years of travel and work included tours in Russia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, Hawaii, Latin America, and the Pacific. He can be contacted at [email protected].) –cw
Tags: Los Angeles, Union Station, Metro, Metrolink, Amtrak, Southern California, Traxx
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 29
Pub: Apr 10, 2012