Expo Line (Los Angeles Metro)

An independent agency, the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority, was given the authority to plan, design and construct the line by state law in 2003. After construction of the second phase was completed, the line was handed over on January 15, 2016, to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.[9]

The line was built in two phases; the first phase comprised the 8.6-mile (13.8 km)[2][10] section between Downtown Los Angeles and Culver City. Construction began in early 2006 and most stations opened to the public on April 28, 2012.[10][11] The Culver City and Farmdale stations opened on June 20, 2012.[10][12]

Design and construction on the 6.6-mile (10.6 km)[2] portion between Culver City and Santa Monica started in September 2011. Testing along the phase 2 segment began on April 6, 2015,[13] and the segment opened on May 20, 2016.[14]

The E Line operates from approximately 4:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. on weekdays and until 2:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.[15]

As of December 2016, trains run approximately every 6 minutes during peak hours, every 12 minutes during middays, every 10 minutes during the evening, and every 20 minutes after midnight.

Maximum speed on the route is 55 mph (89 km/h): speeds within Downtown Los Angeles and Downtown Santa Monica are reduced.[16]

On June 1, 2019, the northern half of the Metro Blue Line closed (from Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station north to 7th Street/Metro Center Station).[23] The Expo Line terminated at 23rd Street starting on June 22, 2019.[23] Bus shuttles replaced train service between LATTC/Ortho Institute Station and 7th Street/Metro Center Station starting on June 22, 2019 through late August.[23]

On August 19, 2019, Metro announced that Expo Line service to the Pico and 7th Street/Metro Center stations would resume with the start of service on August 24, 2019.[24]

The Regional Connector is an under-construction light-rail subway corridor through Downtown Los Angeles that is to connect the current Blue and Expo Lines to the current Gold Line, and to allow a seamless one-seat ride between the Blue and Expo lines' current 7th Street/Metro Center terminus and Union Station.[25]

Once the Regional Connector is completed, the Blue, Expo, and Gold Lines will be simplified into two rail lines: a north-south line connecting Long Beach and Azusa (colored blue), and an east-west line connecting Santa Monica and East Los Angeles (colored gold).

In 2019, Metro began using a renaming system where each rail and bus rapid transit line receives a letter and color. As a result, the Expo Line became the E Line in 2019, and will be recolored from aqua to gold upon completion of the Regional Connector.[26][27][8]

The groundbreaking for the project took place on September 30, 2014, and the alignment is expected to be in public service by mid 2022.[28]

Previously, the light rail vehicles used on the Expo Line were maintained at the division 11 yard in Long Beach, California, the same maintenance facility that is used by the Blue Line. However, the new division 14 yard, located east of Stewart Street and north of Exposition Boulevard[30] in the vicinity of the 26th Street/Bergamot station in Santa Monica, was opened with the completion of Phase 2.

Compatible with the rest of Metro's light-rail network, the Expo Line shares standard Metro light rail vehicles (Nippon Sharyo P2020, Siemens P2000, and Kinki Sharyo P3010) with the Blue Line. Metro estimates that it has 47 light rail cars to provide service on the Expo Line under the peak-hour assumption of 3-car trains running at 6-minute headways.