LOS ANGELES | Transportation News & Discussion

[NSMP]

Thanks! Should have the second part up soon, but I have to finish my comp papers first.

[Car(e)-Free LA]

Originally Posted by bzcat

I was going to post that here... I agree with pretty much everything you mentioned

Once regional connector is operational, the junction is going to be a major problem so the sooner it is put underground the better.

I think the concept of having a junction at all is flawed, especially because the underground junction in Little Tokyo will be no better than the one in Historic South Central. Imagine the entirety of the Central LA Metro system entirely redesigned to eliminate all interlining, like this:

[mrsmartman]

Interlining should at least be acceptable for a light rail system.

[NSMP]

I think the concept of having a junction at all is flawed, especially because the underground junction in Little Tokyo will be no better than the one in Historic South Central.

Why exactly will it not be better?

[Car(e)-Free LA]

Originally Posted by NSMP

Why exactly will it not be better?

Its a flat junction in which outbound Long Beach-Pasadena trains cross the path of inbound East LA-Santa Monica trains, and vice versa. Furthermore, if, after there are two Eastside Gold Line services, one turns north to Union Station, outbound trains will pass over both outbound Long Beach-Pasadena trains and inbound East LA-Santa Monica trains.

PS. I also think it is a good idea from a network perspective to send blue line trains up Alameda and WSAB trains across Downtown to South Park (and eventually west along Pico.)

[WrightCONCEPT]

Originally Posted by Car(e)-Free LA

Its a flat junction in which outbound Long Beach-Pasadena trains cross the path of inbound East LA-Santa Monica trains, and vice versa. Furthermore, if, after there are two Eastside Gold Line services, one turns north to Union Station, outbound trains will pass over both outbound Long Beach-Pasadena trains and inbound East LA-Santa Monica trains.

PS. I also think it is a good idea from a network perspective to send blue line trains up Alameda and WSAB trains across Downtown to South Park (and eventually west along Pico.)

If both lines share an elevated track for a couple of stations there will be opportunities for folks to simply transfer by getting off one train and waiting for the next one, much like passengers will do for Regional Connector if they are switching between SG Valley and Eastside lines.

[Car(e)-Free LA]

Originally Posted by WrightCONCEPT

If both lines share an elevated track for a couple of stations there will be opportunities for folks to simply transfer by getting off one train and waiting for the next one, much like passengers will do for Regional Connector if they are switching between SG Valley and Eastside lines.

Are three parallel transfer points southeast of Downtown really better than one transfer point Southeast of Downtown.

[WrightCONCEPT]

Originally Posted by Car(e)-Free LA

Are three parallel transfer points southeast of Downtown really better than one transfer point Southeast of Downtown.

Yes, so that you don't overload any one spot and you can spread the loading and transfer that is needed. Plus this is better for achieving Federal grants needed to build the project.

[mrsmartman]

Why don't they extend the Purple Line to Santa Monica? Is it less dense than Westwood?

[ChargerCarl]

No $$$

[Car(e)-Free LA]

Originally Posted by mrsmartman

Why don't they extend the Purple Line to Santa Monica? Is it less dense than Westwood?

No money right now, though such an extension would add at least 20,000 daily riders. I expect it to be part of any future ballot measure in 2020 or 2024.

[ChargerCarl]

I'd like to see it swing downwards and link up with expo eventually. Not sure how pie-in-the- sky that idea is though. (also at some level I'm assuming this will be accompanied with zoning changes)

[SFBruin]

It would also be entering an area that is (somewhat) served by the Expo line, and so ridership could be less.

[bzcat]

Originally Posted by ChargerCarl

I'd like to see it swing downwards and link up with expo eventually. Not sure how pie-in-the- sky that idea is though. (also at some level I'm assuming this will be accompanied with zoning changes)

There is no need for Purple line to transfer to Expo line. We will eventually have Sepulveda, Crenshaw, and Vermont line to facilitate transfers between Wilshire and Pico corridors, coincidentally, for Westside, Mid City, and near Downtown.

Zone fare or distance based fare is inevitable in LA once the system is build out.

Originally Posted by SFBruin

It would also be entering an area that is (somewhat) served by the Expo line, and so ridership could be less.

Wilshire is a different corridor from Pico/Expo. There is very little overlap from ridership perspective. And besides, the EIR for the Purple line is already done so we know what the baseline ridership is likely to be (already quite high)... it will only get higher when the Sepulveda line comes to fruition.

[blackcat23]

Metrolink stations in El Monte, Commerce and Northridge could be on the move. New station at Rio Hondo College possibly in the works.

http://urbanize.la/post/metro-studie...-rail-stations

[bzcat]

Moving Metrolink stations closer to Metro stations in general is a great idea. Makes transfers that much easier. But I'm not really sure how they will put the station in the viaduct section... that's going to be expensive.

[Eightball]

Long Beach to finally get Blue Line signal priority, 10 mins to be shaven between dtla and dtlb -

http://la.streetsblog.org/2017/05/09...beach-stretch/

when can we get this usc - dtla via expo also?

[SoCalKid]

Originally Posted by Eightball

Long Beach to finally get Blue Line signal priority, 10 mins to be shaven between dtla and dtlb -

http://la.streetsblog.org/2017/05/09...beach-stretch/

when can we get this usc - dtla via expo also?

Make that Western - DTLA. I don't think I've ever been on a train that DIDN't stop at Western

My question here though is how effective this new system will be. Apparently it's going to be "synchronization" instead of preemption. It seems to me that this is prone to fail, as trains inevitably get delayed/don't arrive exactly on schedule.

[Eightball]

Nevermind

[muertecaza]

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-metro-tunneling/

Ten weeks in and 60 feet beneath the streets of downtown Los Angeles, the miners have clawed through nearly 2,600 feet of earth.

At 5 a.m. on a cool Thursday morning, they gather in the construction yard for the start of another shift.

The moon, just starting to wane, hangs above the distant skyscrapers as the men stretch like athletes and huddle to hear the latest safety report...

In 2021, commuters will follow their steps, barreling through an S-shaped tunnel — the $1.75-billion Regional Connector project — 1.9 miles out of Little Tokyo, north to Bunker Hill and west to 7th and Flower streets, a transit corridor that will link Long Beach to Azusa and Santa Monica to East L.A.

Construction workers will lay almost a mile of that tunnel through a methodical excavation of Flower Street, building the subway and then rebuilding the street. The rest, however, is being dug the hard way.