LACMTA Green Line

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Diagram of the Metro Green Line.

The Metro Green Line is a light rail line in Los Angeles County that connects the cities of Redondo Beach, El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lynwood, South Gate, Los Angeles and Norwalk. It operates mostly in the median of the Century Freeway (Interstate 105). The western portion of the line runs on elevated rail.

It offers access to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) via a free shuttle bus from Aviation station.

The Green Line has two other official names: the D Line, and Line 803. These are rarely used by residents, but occasionally appear on official documents.

1 History
2 List of stations, from East to West
3 References
4 External links

[edit] 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.

Construction on the Green Line began in 1987. One of the reasons for construction was that the Green Line would serve the burgeoning Cold War industries in the El Segundo area. Construction of the line cost $718 million. Unfortunately, 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 Latinos 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 MTA was focusing its efforts on serving middle-class whites and not working-class minorities. As a result, ridership has been below projected estimates, currently averaging over 37,000 daily weekday boardings.

At the time the Green Line opened, the line used train cars made by Nippon Sharyo similar to those used on the Metro Blue Line. In 2000, the Nippon Sharyo train cars were transferred to the Blue Line and the Green Line received new train cars made by Siemens.

A Green Line train at the western terminus Marine/Redondo station in 2006.

The Green Line's western alignment was originally planned and partially constructed to connect with LAX , but the airport was in the planning stages of a major remodeling during the line's construction. Los Angeles World Airports wanted the connection to LAX to be integrated with this construction, but there were concerns that the overhead lines of the rail would interfere with the landing paths of airplanes. In addition, citizens of neighboring communities to LAX opposed the expansion of the airport, and owners of parking lots surrounding LAX were fearful that a train operating to LAX would detract from business, since there is ample free parking at numerous points along the Green Line. As a compromise, a free shuttle from Aviation transports riders to LAX.

The Green Line's eastern terminus also suffers from the fact that it stops two miles 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 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." ^[1]

[edit] List of stations, from East to West

Station	Metro Services	Other Connections	Date Opened
Norwalk	Green	Metro Local: 111, 115, 121, 125, 270, 315, 622 Metro Express: 460, 577X Norwalk Transit: 2, 4, 5 Long Beach Transit: 172, 173	August 12, 1995
Lakewood	Green	Metro Local: 117, 265, 266, 622	August 12, 1995
Long Beach	Green	Metro Local: 60, 251, 360, 622 Metro Rapid: 751	August 12, 1995
Imperial/Wilmington	Green Blue	Metro Local: 55, 120, 121, 124, 202, 205, 305, 612, 622 LADOT DASH: Watts	August 12, 1995
Avalon	Green	Metro Local: 48, 51, 52, 53, 352, 622	August 12, 1995
Harbor Freeway	Green Harbor Transitway	Metro Local: 45, 81, 120, 381, 622 Metro Express: 444, 445, 446, 447, 450X, 550 Metro Rapid: 745 LADOT Commuter Express: 448 Torrance Transit: 1, 2 Gardena Bus Lines: 1	August 12, 1995
Vermont	Green	Metro Local: 204, 206, 209, 622 Metro Rapid: 754 Gardena Bus Lines: 2	August 12, 1995
Crenshaw	Green	Metro Local: 126, 210, 622 Metro Rapid: 710, 757	August 12, 1995
Hawthorne	Green	Metro Local: 40, 119, 126, 212, 312, 622 Metro Express: 442 Metro Rapid: 740	August 12, 1995
Aviation	Green	Metro Local: 120, 622, 625, 626 Metro Express: 439 Culver CityBus: 6 Santa Monica Big Blue Bus: 3, Rapid 3 Municipal Area Express: 2, 3, 3X LAX Shuttle: G	August 12, 1995
Mariposa	Green	Metro Local: 232, 626 Torrance Transit: 8 (Southbound)	August 12, 1995
El Segundo	Green	Metro Local: 124 LADOT Commuter Express: 574 Municipal Area Express: 2, 3, 3X Torrance Transit: 8 (Southbound)	August 12, 1995
Douglas	Green	Metro Local: 125	August 12, 1995
Redondo Beach	Green	Metro Local: 126, 215 LADOT Commuter Express: 574 Lawndale Beat: Residential, Express Beach Cities Transit: 102	August 12, 1995

[edit] References

^ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-expoline8oct08,0,5078716,full.story Los Angeles Times

[edit] External links

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (website)
Metro Bus	Metro Local – Metro Rapid – Metro Express
Metro Rail	Red Line – Purple Line – Blue Line – Green Line – Gold Line – Expo Line (future)
Metro Liner	Orange Line
Metro Transitways	Harbor Transitway – El Monte Busway
Connecting rail	Amtrak – Amtrak California – Metrolink
Other information	Union Station – Metro Fleet – Transportation of Los Angeles