Blue Line (Los Angeles Metro)

Route

The Metro Blue Line runs between downtown Los Angeles and downtown Long Beach. The line is 22.0 miles (35.4 km) long, with 22 stations.^[2] The line's northern terminus is 7th Street/Metro Center, from which it runs south along Flower Street, sharing tracks with the Expo Line. Passengers can connect to the Metro Silver Line bus rapid transit line at 7th Street/Metro Center and Pico stations. The two lines diverge at Flower Street and Washington Boulevard just south of downtown Los Angeles. Here the Blue Line turns east on Washington Boulevard before turning south on Long Beach Avenue to join the Pacific Electric four-track right-of-way to Willow Station which runs as far as Long Beach where the line follows Long Beach Boulevard to the Long Beach Transit Mall, which is a loop involving Long Beach Boulevard, 1st Street, Pacific Avenue and 8th Street. There are some elevated structures and stations south of downtown Los Angeles as well as a short tunneled section within downtown Los Angeles. The Blue Line connects with the Metro Green Line at Willowbrook station.

Hours of operation

Trains run between approximately 4:45 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. the following morning.^[3] On Friday and Saturday evenings, trains are extended until 2:00 a.m. of the following morning. First and last train times are as follows:

To/From Long Beach

Northbound

• First Train to 7th Street/Metro Center: 4:46 a.m.
• Last Train to 7th Street/Metro Center: 12:03 a.m. (2:07 a.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings)

Southbound

• First Train to Long Beach: 5:00 a.m.
• Last Train to Long Beach: 1:01 a.m. (2:05 a.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings)

Of note, some trains operate at later or earlier times due to the Blue Line making the turnaround in Downtown Long Beach.

Headways

Trains on the Blue Line operate every six minutes during peak hours Monday through Friday.^[4] They operate every twelve minutes during the daytime weekdays and all day on the weekends after approximately 9 a.m. (with a 15-minute headway early Saturday and Sunday mornings). Night service consists of ten-minute headways.

During peak hours, every other train serves only the stations between Willow and 7th Street/Metro Center to decrease the headway on that portion of the route. Willow was chosen because of its proximity to the Blue Line storage yard and because it is the last southbound station with a park-and-ride lot. In the evening rush hour, riders will see some trains destined to "Willow" and others to "Long Beach". Consequently, those riders destined to Long Beach must exit at Willow Station and wait for the next train which will terminate at Downtown Long Beach Station.

Ridership

The Blue Line was projected to have a daily ridership of 5,000.^[5] Within the first months of service, daily ridership had reached 12,000, and by the end of the first year of service, daily ridership was at 32,000.^[5]

As of July 2011, Metro had estimated the Blue Line had over 90,000 average weekday boardings, and 26.26 million yearly boardings. As of October 2013, the Blue Line had an average weekday ridership of 88,095,^[6][7] and Saturday and Sunday boardings of 60,339 and 46,897, respectively,^[6] which would correspond to 28.48 million boardings per year.

Regional Connector Transit Corridor (extension into Downtown Los Angeles)

Metro is currently constructing the Regional Connector, a light rail subway project in Downtown Los Angeles that will connect the Blue and Expo Lines to the Gold Line and allow a seamless one-seat ride between the Blue and Expo Lines' current terminus at 7th Street/Metro Center and Union Station. When this project is completed, Blue Line trains will be able to pass through Downtown Los Angeles to the City of Azusa.

Currently, to reach Union Station, passengers must transfer to the Red or Purple line from 7th Street/Metro Center; yet, once the Regional Connector project is completed, the Blue Line will be able to travel to Azusa, while the Gold line will be able to travel to Santa Monica.

Colors for these new lines have not yet been officially announced, but it seems likely that the current Blue Line and the Pasadena/Foothill northern section of the Gold Line will become the new Blue Line, while the Expo Line and the Eastside leg of the Gold Line will become the new Gold Line. The groundbreaking for the construction of the Regional Connector Transit Corridor took place on September 30, 2014, and it is expected to be in public service by late 2021.

Blue Line Renovation project

Metro announced in March 2018 that it has prepared to begin renovation work along the entire route, starting in January 2019.^[12] The renovation would be conducted in two phases: from January to May, the southern leg of the Blue Line (from Willowbrook/Rosa Parks to Downtown Long Beach) would be shut down, while the northern section (7th/Metro to Willowbrook/Rosa Parks) would remain operational. From May to September, the northern leg of the route would be shut down while work begins on the second phase of the project, with the southern portion resuming service starting in early May. As a result of the renovation, Metro would institute shuttle bus service to replicate the Blue Line route in each of the two phases: Willowbrook/Rosa Parks to Downtown Long Beach during phase one, Willowbrook/Rosa Parks to 7th Street/Metro Center during phase two. The Expo Line is also affected for the first 3 weeks of phase two between LATTC/Ortho Institute station and 7th Street/Metro Center.

The project would include replacement of rail tracks and overhead wiring, signal upgrades, refurbishment of aerial rail bridges (including the elevated platforms at the Slauson, Firestone, and Del Amo stations), and a complete rebuild of the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks station. The renovation is expected to be completed by the opening of the Crenshaw/LAX Line, which is scheduled to begin revenue service by October 2019.^[13][14]

Capacity limits

Blue Line train arriving at 7th Street Metro Center. LACMTA uses rolling stock interchangeably on the Expo and Blue Lines; this train departed minutes later on the Expo route.

The line often operates at capacity, and various options to increase capacity have been considered, such as four-car trains or more frequent trains. Both have problems: it would be difficult or impossible to lengthen some of the station platforms, and the number of trains already causes delays for other vehicles at level crossings. Thus it may not be possible to increase Blue Line ridership without an extremely expensive grade-separation project, either by elevation, by an entrenchment method similar to that used by the nearby Alameda Corridor freight rail "expressway", or by building another parallel transit corridor to relieve capacity strains from the Blue Line. When the Regional Connector project linking Blue and Expo Line tracks with the Gold Line tracks in Little Tokyo is completed, this may result in even more capacity problems, with ridership expected to grow even more once the connector is open for service.

Safety at level crossings

A Metro Blue Line train heading to Long Beach arrives at Willow Station.

Over 120 motorists and pedestrians have been killed at Blue Line level crossings since 1990 and there have been more than 800 collisions,^[15][16] making the line easily the country's deadliest and most collision-prone rail line.^[17]

Train at the Slauson station

In 1998, the MTA commissioned Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. to evaluate the cause of Blue Line collisions and recommend affordable solutions. The study reported the high ridership (over 70,000 per day) was a contributor:

"The MBL has one of the highest ridership counts for light rail lines in the Country. This factor is perhaps the most important contributor to the grade crossing accident rate. The high ridership results in increased pedestrian traffic near stations as compared to other light rail systems. In addition, although MTA Operations does not allow high passenger loads dictate safe operations, there is pressure to maintain travel times and headway schedule requirements (e.g., passenger trip from Los Angeles to Long Beach in less than one hour)."

Other identified contributing factors were the high local population density that leads to more pedestrian and vehicular traffic around the tracks, diverse varied socio-economic community around the line that creates literacy and language difficulties for public education campaigns, driver frustration due to the slow traffic speeds around the line that leads to more risk taking behavior, and the shared right-of-way with freight traffic in the fastest running section from Washington station to Willow station, where trains operate at a maximum of 55 mph (89 km/h) between stations.

The collision rate has declined somewhat following the installation of four-quadrant gates at some crossings where the Blue Line shares the right-of-way with freight rail between Washington station and Del Amo station. The gates prevent drivers from going around lowered gates. In addition, cameras along some problem intersections issue traffic tickets when drivers go around gates. Yet there are still many more collisions and deaths than on comparable lines. On May 9, 2006, a Blue Line train hit a car on Washington Blvd at San Pedro Street. On December 22, 2006, a Metro Blue Line train crashed into a fire truck. The fire truck was on its way to an emergency. On January 26, 2007, a 14-year-old boy named Lavert Baker, Jr. was killed on his way walking home from school by a Blue Line train that was carrying his closest sister.^[18]

Recently, a Pedestrian Gate Project had broke ground on the Blue Line as part of the upgrade project for the Blue Line. This project can be found between Watts and Long Beach (Century Blvd - Spring Street)

Inside the Metro Blue Line interior. The Metro Expo Line will use of these trains for Phase 1 service. The Metro Blue Line will be using these trains, but it will also begin using the Siemens P2000 trains from the Metro Gold Line.

A Blue Line train in Long Beach, in 1990s livery.

Maintenance facilities

The Blue Line is operated out of the Division 11 Yard (208th Street Yard) located at 4170 East 208th Street. This yard stores the fleet used on the Blue Line. It is also where heavy maintenance is done on the fleet. The Yard is located between Del Amo and Wardlow stations. Trains get to this yard via a wye junction on the southbound tracks. Northbound trains can enter and exit the yard via the cross tracks on the north and south side of the junction.

Rolling stock

A retiring Nippon Sharyo P865 restored back to its default livery

The Blue Line uses cars from the Nippon Sharyo company. Although three-car lengths are the norm due to high ridership, some two-car pairs and rarely one-car pair are used late at night and on weekend mornings.

When the Blue Line opened, the line originally had 54 cars (P865; 100-153). In 2000, the Blue Line added 15 cars (P2020; 154-168) from the Metro Green Line after the Green Line began using Siemens P2000 cars.^[19] The Blue Line currently has 69 train cars in its fleet.

Currently, 66 cars are in the yellow/white livery. Past livery was sky/light/dark blue and red lines on white. In 2000, Cars 109 and 148 were painted red to celebrate an anniversary of the Pacific Electric Railway. These red-painted cars were repainted to a silver livery, similar to the 700-750 series cars,^[20] but in 2008, Cars 109 and 148 were repainted to match most of the fleet. Also, Car 105 uses a livery that is all white with black lettering, similar to Car 302. As of August 2013, Car 148 debuted a new livery featuring "bold reflective yellow markings and white super-graphics overlaid onto painted cool greys … intended for the entire rail fleet."^[21]

The Blue Line uses Nippon Sharyo P865 & P2020 and Siemens P2000 trains, which are in use on both the Blue and Expo lines. Kinki Sharyo P3010 trains are also used, but are becoming common to operate on the line.

Blue Line vehicles are maintained and stored at the Division 11 yard in Long Beach between Del Amo and Wardlow stations. This facility has capacity for storing and maintaining 86 light rail cars.

During the process of retiring the Nippon Sharyo P865s, cars 110, 130, and 120 had been reverted to its original livery when the Blue Line first open in 1990. These cars are being used in an upcoming film Captain Marvel,which is set in the 1990s. However, they still have modernized equipment such as the LED lights and the current Metro logo on the sides.