Owner Metro Rail Line number 803 Website Green Line | Transit type Light rail Number of stations 14 | |
 | ||
Daily ridership 36,141 (July 2016; avg. weekday) | ||
The Green Line is a 20-mile (32 km) light rail line running between Redondo Beach and Norwalk within Los Angeles County; it is one of six lines forming the Los Angeles County Metro Rail system. The line opened on August 12, 1995. It became the third line in the Metro Rail system after the opening of the Blue Line and Red Line. The line was delayed due to a change of the line's route from Los Angeles International Airport to El Segundo. In addition to Redondo Beach and Norwalk, the route also serves El Segundo, Hawthorne, South Los Angeles, Lynwood, Downey, and Willowbrook (in South Los Angeles). It serves the Plaza Mexico shopping center at the Long Beach Boulevard station in the city of Lynwood. A free shuttle bus to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is available at the line's Aviation/LAX Station. The line is mostly suburb-to-suburb service, so it is the only one in the entire Metro Rail system not to serve Downtown Los Angeles.
Contents
- Route
- Hours of operation
- Headways
- History
- Future extensions
- Northern Extension to LAX
- Southern Extension to South Bay
- Station listing
- Maintenance facilities
- Rolling stock
- Incidents
- References
The fully grade-separated route runs partly in the median of the Century Freeway (Interstate 105) with a mostly elevated section to the west. The line is operated and maintained by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The Green Line is internally known as Line 803: this designation appears on internal operating schedules, as well as in the hyperlink on Metro's timetable website. The Green Line is the fastest light rail line (excluding the heavy rail Red Line and Purple Line) in the Metro light rail network. Green Line trains typically operate at 55–60 mph on the I-105 freeway portion and around 40 mph on the elevated portion west of Aviation/LAX Station. When the Green Line began service in 1995, it operated with only one-car trains. As ridership increased, two-car trains were then used. Ridership on the Green Line has not been as high as the Blue Line, although it did have a higher ridership than the Gold Line until 2013. Additionally, the Green Line runs with one-car trains in the early mornings (3:35 A.M.–5:30 A.M.) and late evenings (9:00P.M.–12:55 A.M.) on weekdays, and on weekends. Although nearly all of the Green Line stations were built to accommodate three rail cars, it has never had that many. The stations west of Aviation/LAX Station were not built to accommodate three-car trains. It is possible that the Green Line may eventually use three-car trains when the Crenshaw/LAX Line light rail line is complete.
Route
The entire route of the Green Line is elevated, either on track supports, or in the median of the Century Freeway (Interstate 105). The line begins in the west at Redondo Beach station, then heads roughly north through El Segundo. At Aviation/LAX, passengers can transfer to any one of several bus lines from different operators, particularly the shuttle bus to LAX. From here, the Green Line heads east in the median of the Century Freeway, with connection to the Metro Silver Line rapid transit at the Harbor Freeway Station. It then continues to a major transfer connection at the Willowbrook Station (transfer point to the Metro Blue Line). Finally, the line terminates in the city of Norwalk, just east of the 605 Freeway.
Hours of operation
Metro Green Line trains run between approximately 3:36 a.m. and 11:55 p.m. daily. Service on Friday and Saturday nights continues until approximately 2:15 a.m. First and last train times are as follows:
To Norwalk Station
To Redondo Beach Station
Headways
Trains on the Green Line operate every seven to eight minutes during peak hours Monday through Friday. They operate every 15 minutes during the midday and all day on the weekends, with night service running every 20 minutes.
History
As part of the consent decree signed by Caltrans in 1972 to allow construction of the fiercely opposed Century Freeway, provisions were made for a transit corridor (without designating the type thereof) in the freeway's median. In the original Metro Rail master plan of the early 1980s, this corridor was designated as a light rail line.
Mayor Tom Bradley and other politicians intended the line to be fully automated, running without operators, but the technology was not fully implemented in the end.
Construction on the Green Line began in 1987. One of the reasons for construction was that the Green Line would serve the aerospace and defense industries in the El Segundo area. Construction of the line cost $718 million. By the time the Green Line opened in 1995, the Cold War was over, and the aerospace sector was hemorrhaging jobs. Furthermore, during the 1980s, the bedroom communities in the Gateway Cities region of southeastern Los Angeles County were rapidly losing their population of middle-class aerospace workers (primarily whites and blacks), a process that radically accelerated in the early 1990s. The working-class and poor Hispanics who filled the vacuum generally had no connection to the aerospace sector. This rationale for Green Line construction was a principal argument cited by the Bus Riders Union when it contended that the MTA was focusing its efforts on serving middle-class whites and not working-class minorities. As a result, ridership has been below projected estimates, averaging approximately 44,000 daily weekday boardings in June 2008.
At the time the Green Line opened, the line used rolling stock made by Nippon Sharyo similar to that used on the Metro Blue Line. In late 2001, the Nippon Sharyo railcars were transferred to the Blue Line and the Green Line received new railcars made by Siemens.
The Green Line's western alignment was originally planned and partially constructed to connect with LAX, but the airport was planning a major renovation during the line's construction. Los Angeles World Airports wanted the connection to LAX to be integrated with this construction, but there were concerns from the Federal Aviation Administration that the overhead lines of the rail line would interfere with the landing paths of airplanes. In addition, citizens of neighboring communities to LAX opposed the expansion of the airport. Taxi and limousine drivers and owners of parking lots surrounding LAX feared that a train operating to LAX would create competition, as there is ample free parking at numerous points along the Green Line. As a compromise, a free shuttle from Aviation/LAX Station transports riders to LAX terminals. Today, passengers on the Green Line can see the provision for the LAX extension—two concrete ramp stubs west of the Aviation/LAX station.
The Green Line's eastern terminus also suffers from the fact that it stops two miles (3 km) just short of the heavily used Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Metrolink station, where several Metrolink lines operate. Local bus service is provided between the Metrolink station and the Green Line terminus, but schedules are not coordinated with the Green Line arrivals. Because of this, and the Green Line's re-routed western alignment away from LAX, critics have labeled the Green Line as a train that goes "from nowhere to nowhere." The Green Line is currently the only Metro rail line not to serve Downtown Los Angeles. Transfers to the Blue Line can be made at the Willowbrook Station by downtown-bound riders.
In 2007, the Green Line began placing advertisement banners on the sides of trains, similar to those on the Gold Line. The advertisement banners briefly ceased before returning in April 2009.
During September 2012, the automated voice announcements on board the trains were updated to reflect the station name changes of Vermont/Athens Station and Willowbrook/RosaParks Station. In addition, the announcements now include the connection to the Silver Line at Harbor Freeway Station. Before this, riders were not verbally notified that the Green Line connects with the Silver Line at Harbor Freeway Station.
Temporary closures of Green Line stations will take place to allow renovations between early 2015 and early 2016.
Future extensions
Various studies have suggested extending the Green Line north to LAX, Westchester, Loyola Marymount University, and even Santa Monica. A possible southern extension could take the Green Line's southern terminus farther southeast, to the South Bay Galleria or beyond. And on the line's east end, the line may one day be extended from its current terminus at Norwalk station to Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs station.
Northern Extension to LAX
When the Crenshaw/LAX Line is completed, the Metro Green Line will begin a new operational pattern near LAX, with northern and southern branches. The southern branch will operate as the Green Line currently does with westbound trains continuing through El Segundo, South to Redondo Beach. The northern branch will involve westbound trains splitting off after Aviation/LAX Station and then traveling North along Aviation Blvd. to terminate at Aviation/96th station, allowing transfers from the Crenshaw/LAX Line to the planned automated people mover called the Airport Metro Connector through an infill station (which will transport riders to the LAX terminals).
Southern Extension to South Bay
Metro is currently working on the initial environmental study of a corridor extension of the Green Line, from its Redondo terminus toward the southeast. The "South Bay Metro Green Line Extension" would roughly follow the Harbor Subdivision ROW into the South Bay, to the Torrance Regional Transit Center (RTC). Metro and the public are considering two alternatives in the DEIR: an elevated light-rail extension, and an at-grade extension over existing tracks, with vehicle type still to be determined.
Study of the South Bay Extension will lead to publication of a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). The study is expected to be completed in 2011. The project is prioritized in the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) and has funding in Measure R.
Station listing
The Green Line consists of the following 14 stations (from west to east):
Maintenance facilities
The Green Line is operated out of the Division 22 Yard (Aviation Street Yard). This yard stores the fleet used on the Green line. It is also where light maintenance is done on the fleet (Heavier maintenance is done at the Blue Line yard in Long Beach). The Yard is located between Redondo Beach and Douglas stations. Trains enter the yard via a junction halfway between the two stations. Douglas bound trains (Northbound) may enter but there is no exit track to continue North. Redondo Beach bound trains (Southbound) may enter and exit the Yard to continue south.
Rolling stock
At the time the Green Line opened, the line used rolling stock made by Nippon Sharyo similar to those used on the Metro Blue Line. In late 2001, the Nippon Sharyo P2020's were transferred to the Blue Line, and the Green Line received new Siemens P2000 railcars which have been operating on the Green Line ever since.
Incidents
On February 22, 2015 a train near the Hawthorne station struck and killed a pedestrian, making this the first fatality on the Green Line.