Gold Line (Los Angeles Metro)

Route

Beginning in East Los Angeles, the Gold Line initially runs west toward Downtown Los Angeles. From its southern terminus at Atlantic, the line travels west along 3rd Street to Indiana Street, where it turns north for two blocks to 1st Street. From here, the line continues west to Little Tokyo, partly through a tunnel under Boyle Heights with two underground stations.^[10] At Alameda Street in Little Tokyo, the line turns north and crosses over the Hollywood Freeway, and stops at Union Station on tracks 1 and 2. At Union Station, riders can connect with the Metro Red and Metro Purple Subway Lines, the Metro Silver Line bus rapid transit line as well as several other Metro (MTA) bus lines, LADOT Dash lines, Metrolink regional commuter trains, and Amtrak services including Pacific Surfliner and long distance interstate trains, and Amtrak throughway motorcoaches connecting to San Joaquin trains originating at Bakersfield.

From Union Station, the Gold Line proceeds north on elevated rail to Chinatown and then crosses the Los Angeles River adjacent to the Golden State Freeway (Interstate 5). From here, the route continues north/northeast, serving the hillside communities north of downtown, including Lincoln Heights, Mount Washington and Highland Park. Through this stretch, the Gold Line operates primarily at grade, except for a short underpass below Figueroa Street.

North of Highland Park, the route crosses over the Arroyo Seco Parkway (State Route 110). The route continues through South Pasadena and then downtown Pasadena, primarily at-grade. In Old Pasadena, the line travels underground for almost half a mile long, passing under Pasadena's main thoroughfare, Colorado Boulevard. (Memorial Park station, just north of Colorado Boulevard, is below grade.) Finally, the Gold Line enters the median of the Foothill Freeway (Interstate 210) and continues east to Sierra Madre Villa station, in Pasadena just west of the Arcadia city limits.

East of Pasadena, the route crosses over the eastbound lanes of Foothill Freeway (Interstate 210) west of Santa Anita Avenue, with stops at the Arcadia Station, located at the corner of First Avenue and Santa Clara Street, then it crosses over Huntington Drive and stops at the Monrovia Station, north of Duarte Road at Myrtle Avenue. It continues eastbound with a stop at the Duarte/City of Hope Station located at the north side of Duarte Road, across the street from the City of Hope Medical Center, then continues going over the San Gabriel River and stops at the Irwindale Station at Irwindale Avenue, continues over the Foothill Freeway (Interstate 210) over Foothill Boulevard and stops at the Azusa Station at Azusa Avenue, north of Foothill Boulevard, and its terminus is at the APU/Citrus College Station just west of Citrus Avenue.

Hours of operation

Metro Gold Line trains operate between 3:45 a.m. and 12:45 a.m. daily. (til 2:00 am Friday and Saturday nights)^[11]

Headways

Trains on the Gold Line operate every 7 minutes during peak hours Monday through Friday.^[11][12] Middays consist of 12-18 minute headways, while weekends all day have a frequency of 12–18 minutes.^[11][12] Nighttime service operates every 20 minutes.^[11][12]

Speed

The Gold Line trains travel at a maximum speed of 55 mph. It takes 73 minutes^[11] to travel its 31-mile (50 km) length,^[9] at an average speed of 21.9 mph (35 km/h) over its length. The Gold Line is particularly slow through the Highland Park area, where trains reach speeds of only 20 mph (32 km/h) due to several street crossings and through the curves, where trains travel at about 25 mph (40 km/h).

Ridership

Following the extension to East Los Angeles in 2009, the line's ridership increased to almost 30,000 daily boardings.^[1] As of October 2012, the average weekday daily boardings for the Gold Line stood at 42,417 and as of December 2014 the average daily weekday boardings had increased to 44,707. Following the extension to Azusa, ridership rose to 49,238 as of May 2016.^[1][2]

Planning

The Gold Line's initial route was formerly the right-of-way of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, (the Pasadena Subdivision)^[15] where passenger trains like the Southwest Chief and the Desert Wind operated until Amtrak service was re-routed along the Southern Transcon to San Bernardino via Fullerton in the early 1990s. The reuse of the line resulted in the rehabilitation and redevelopment at the site of the former Santa Fe depot.^[16]

A line through Pasadena was proposed in the early 1980s as a part of a more extensive regional urban rail network, however it would not come to fruition until almost two decades later.^[17] Initial planning and construction was done by Metro. After the project was halted due to a lack of funding the "Los Angeles Pasadena Blue Line Construction Authority" was established by State legislation to reactivate and complete the then 11% completed project.

The Gold Line was originally planned as a part of the Metro Blue Line. Making that connection as originally planned would require the "Regional Connector" to connect Metro Center with Union Station which is under construction.

Operation

Union Station to Eastside

Gold Line Maravilla station under construction in December 2008

On November 15, 2009, Metro opened the first phase of the Gold Line Eastside Extension.^[22][23][24] The project extended the Gold Line from Union Station to Atlantic Boulevard near Monterey Park.^[25][26][27] The extended route serves Little Tokyo, Arts District, Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles.^[28] The project added eight stations, two of which (Mariachi Plaza and Soto) are underground stations, only the second set of subway stations in the light rail portion of the Metro Rail system (after the 7th Street/Metro Center station).^[29]

Regional Connector Transit Corridor

The Regional Connector Transit Corridor (also known as the Regional Connector, Downtown Connector or Downtown Light-Rail Connector) is an under construction light rail subway corridor through Downtown Los Angeles that is designed to connect the current Blue and Expo Lines to the current 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.

Once the Regional Connector Transit Corridor is completed, the northern leg of the Gold Line through the San Gabriel Valley and Azusa will be joined with the current Blue Line connecting Downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach, creating what will be the longest light rail transit line in the United States. The Eastside leg of the Gold Line will be connected to the current Expo Line, which runs between Downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica. As part of the project, the current at-grade Gold Line Little Tokyo/Arts District station will be demolished and replaced with a new subway station with the same name approximately 500 feet south and on the opposite side of Alameda from the current station's platforms. Names and/or colors for these new lines have not yet been officially announced, but it seems likely that the Expo Line and the Eastside leg of the Gold Line will become the new Gold Line, while the current Blue Line and the Pasadena/Foothill northern section of the Gold Line will become the new Blue Line.^[36] 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 2020.

Foothill Extension Phase 2B

Map of the Gold Line, with the Foothill Extension along the top. (Correct spelling is "Claremont")

A second phase of the Foothill Extension, to Montclair in San Bernardino County, had a groundbreaking ceremony on December 2 2017, with a current estimated completion date of 2026.^[37]

Eastside Extension Phase 2

Metro is considering a new extension of the Metro Gold Line in the Eastside. This second phase of the Eastside Corridor would extend the Gold Line's southern leg eastward, from its current terminus at Atlantic station to Whittier.

As of August 2010, Metro has completed the Alternatives Analysis phase. The next step for Metro is to conduct an initial environmental study, leading to publication and approval of a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR).^[38][39]

The two alignments to be studied in the DEIR are:

• SR-60 LRT: Mixture of at-grade and aerial running along the Pomona Freeway to South El Monte
• Washington LRT: Aerial running south on Garfield Avenue and then east on Washington Boulevard to Whittier
• Or both.

Maintenance facilities

The Gold Line is operated in both the Division 21 Yard (Los Angeles River Yard) and Division 24 yard (Monrovia yard). Division 21 is located on Vin Scully Drive (Elysian Park Drive) overlooking the Los Angeles River, and Division 24 is located south of the I-210 freeway in Monrovia. These yards stores the fleet used on the Gold Line. It is also where maintenance is done on the fleet. Trains can access these yards via a single track junction.

Rolling stock

Gold Line trains are typically two-car trains. On New Year's Day, the Gold Line uses three-car trains for service to the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game. Service operates from approximately 4 am to 1 am, with service approximately every 7 minutes during peak hours, 12 minutes middays and on weekends and 20 minutes until the close of service.

Trains are composed of articulated light rail vehicles (LRVs) which are compatible with Metro's light rail systems. As of April 2012, the Gold Line uses 50 AnsaldoBreda P2550 LRVs (701–750). P2550s have been featured in many television ads by Metro.

In April 2012, Metro transferred the last of the Gold Line's Siemens P2000 trains to the Blue Line to transfer some overhauled Nippon Sharyo P850 (100–153) cars to Expo Phase 1 while the Ansaldobreda P2550 cars replaced the Siemens P2000 trains on the Gold Line.

Advertising

On October 3, 2007, Metro Gold Line trains began having advertisement banners on the sides of trains, like on the Metro Green Line. On February 13, 2008, Metro removed the banner ads on all Metro Gold Line trains. But in mid-June 2008, banners promoting the Long Range Transportation Plan were added on car 246. On July 14, 2008, banner ads were added on cars 229, 235, 236, 238, 239, 244, 250 and 302.