C Line (Los Angeles Metro)

C Line
P2000 train at Redondo Beach station
Overview
Other name(s)	Green Line (1995–2020)
Line number	803
Termini	Redondo Beach Norwalk
Stations	14
Service
Type	Light rail
System	Los Angeles Metro Rail
Operator(s)	Metro (LACMTA)
Rolling stock	Kinki Sharyo P3010 or Siemens P2000 running in 1–2 car consists
Daily ridership	36,141 (July 2016; avg. weekday)[1][2]
History
Opened	August 12, 1995; 26 years ago (August 12, 1995)
Technical
Line length	20 mi (32.2 km)[3]
Number of tracks	2
Character	Predominantly elevated and fully grade-separated, mostly in freeway median
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	750 V DC overhead catenary
Operating speed	65 mph (105 km/h)
Route map Legend South Bay Extension to Torrance (2030–2033) Redondo Beach Division 22 yard Douglas El Segundo Mariposa   K Line to Expo/Crenshaw (2023) Aviation/LAX (via ) I-105 I-405 Hawthorne/Lennox Dominguez Channel Crenshaw Vermont/Athens Harbor Freeway I-110   Avalon Compton Creek Willowbrook/Rosa Parks   to A Line Long Beach Boulevard I-710 Los Angeles River West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor (2028) Lakewood Boulevard San Gabriel River I-605 Norwalk I-105 Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs (planned) all stations accessible Parking is available at all stations except Mariposa This diagram: view talk

The C Line (formerly the Green Line from 1995 to 2020) is a 20-mile (32 km)^[3] light rail line running between Redondo Beach and Norwalk within Los Angeles County. It is one of six lines forming the Los Angeles Metro Rail system, and opened on August 12, 1995. It also serves El Segundo, Hawthorne, South Los Angeles, Lynwood, Downey, Paramount and Willowbrook (in South Los Angeles). A free shuttle bus to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is available at the line's Aviation/LAX Station. The fully grade-separated route (essentially a light metro) runs mostly in the median of the Century Freeway (Interstate 105) for its eastern portion, and on an elevated viaduct for its western portion.

The line is the only one in the entire Metro Rail system not to serve Downtown Los Angeles but passengers can reach it by connecting with the J Line busway at Harbor Freeway Station, the A Line light rail at Willowbrook/Rosa Parks station, or Metro Express 460 at Norwalk Station.

The K Line, scheduled to open in 2022, will be integrated with much of the current C Line, creating two separate lines. The C Line will operate along the current corridor between Willowbrook/Rosa Parks station and Redondo Beach station, while the K Line will run from Norwalk along the current C Line before turning onto the newly built infrastructure and terminating at Expo/Crenshaw station.^[4]

Service description[]

Route[]

Map showing C Line route and stations

The entire route of the C Line is grade-separated, with its tracks following the median of the Century Freeway (Interstate 105) or an elevated guideway. 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, including LAX Shuttle route M which provides free service to Los Angeles International Airport. From here, the C Line heads east in the median of the Century Freeway, with a connection to the Metro J Line bus rapid transit line at the Harbor Freeway Station. It then continues to a major transfer connection at the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks station (transfer point to the A Line). Finally, the line terminates in the city of Norwalk, just east of the 605 Freeway. A junction at Willowbrook/Rosa Parks allows trains to transfer to A Line tracks for maintenance and other non-revenue operations.

When the C Line began service in 1995, it operated with only one-car trains. As ridership increased, two-car trains were then used. Ridership on the C Line has not been as high as the A Line, although it did have a higher ridership than the L Line (Gold) until 2013.^[1][2] Although all of the C Line stations in the median of the Century Freeway were built by Caltrans to accommodate three-car trains, the five Metro-built stations west of the freeway only have room for two-car trains.^[5]

Hours of operation[]

Metro C Line trains run between approximately 3:30 am. and midnight daily, with a scheduled running time of 34 minutes from end to end.^[6] Service on Friday and Saturday nights continues until approximately 2:15 am. The C Line runs with one-car trains in the early mornings (3:35 am–5:30 am) and late evenings (9:00 pm–12:55 am).

Headways[]

Trains on the C 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.^[6]

Speed[]

The C Line is the fastest light rail line in the Metro rail network, with trains operating at speeds up to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h) on the I-105 freeway portion.

The C Line takes 34 minutes^[6] to travel its 19.5-mile (31 km) length,^[3] at an average speed of 34.4 mph (55 km/h) over its length. This is 31% faster than the Metro L Line, 38% faster than the Metro A Line, and 74% faster than the Metro E Line.

Station listing[]

The C Line consists of the following 14 stations (from west to east):

Station	Date opened	City/Neighborhood	Major connections and notes[7][8]
Redondo Beach	August 12, 1995	Hawthorne and Redondo Beach[N 1]	Park and ride: 340 spaces
Douglas		El Segundo	Park and ride: 30 spaces
El Segundo			Park and ride: 93 spaces
Mariposa
Aviation/LAX		Westchester and Del Aire	LAX via shuttle Park and ride: 435 spaces
Hawthorne/Lennox		Hawthorne	Park and ride: 362 spaces
Crenshaw			Park and ride: 506 spaces
Vermont/Athens		Athens	Park and ride: 155 spaces
Harbor Freeway		South Los Angeles	Park and ride: 253 spaces
Avalon			Park and ride: 160 spaces
Willowbrook/Rosa Parks	July 14, 1990[a]	Willowbrook	Park and ride: 234 spaces
Long Beach Boulevard	August 12, 1995	Lynwood	Park and ride: 635 spaces
Lakewood Boulevard		Downey	Park and ride: 403 spaces
Norwalk		Norwalk	Park and ride: 1,759 spaces

Ridership[]

History[]

In 1972, Caltrans signed a consent decree to allow construction of the fiercely opposed Century Freeway (Interstate 105), which included provisions for a transit corridor in the freeway's median as a way to help communities impacted by the new freeway.

Construction began in 1987 on the corridor as a light rail line, envisioned as connection with the bedroom communities in the Gateway Cities along the Century Freeway with the then-burgeoning aerospace center in El Segundo. The section in El Segundo would be fully elevated and follow the route of the Harbor Subdivision.

From the beginning of the project, several compromises were made. Because Caltrans dropped a plan for the freeway to cross through Norwalk to Interstate 5, the line was denied a connection to the then-new Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Metrolink station.^[10] Additionally, although planners planned to add a spur to LAX, they did not include it in the initial project over fears that commuters would not use the line if they had to go through the airport on the way to work.^[11] The proposed extension to LAX was further complicated by concerns from the Federal Aviation Administration that the overhead lines of the rail line would interfere with the landing paths of airplanes.^[12] Amid ambivalence at LAX and L.A. City Hall, the plans to extend the line to the airport were shelved.

The line opened on August 12, 1995, more than a year late, and $950 million over budget. By that time, the Cold War was over, and the aerospace sector in El Segundo was hemorrhaging jobs.^[11] The collapse of jobs in the area and the compromises made during construction limited the line's utility, earning it the nickname "the train to nowhere."^[11]

One of the lessons learned from the line, and the Harbor Transitway built at the same time, was that freeway median stations offer a poor rider experience, requiring customers to descend from bridges or climb stairs from dimly lit underpasses to isolated stations in the middle of a noisy and exhaust-ridden freeway.^[5]

Over time, the line did find riders and ridership grew steadily, peaking at nearly 13 million riders in 2014, driven by the 5,100 park-and-ride spaces and slowing traffic on the 105 freeway.^[5]

Future[]

There are currently several projects under construction or in the planning phase that will make the C Line a lot more useful: a connection to LAX, an extension to the South Bay, and an extension to the Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs station.

Connection to LAX and integration with K Line[]

Operating plan approved for the Crenshaw/LAX Line

The Crenshaw/LAX Line project extends from the existing C Line, and the question of how the new segment would be integrated into the Metro Rail system was the subject of some controversy in 2018 as completion of the project loomed. Early proposals had suggested that a new line would operate between Expo/Crenshaw station in the north and Aviation/Century in the south, or possibly extend to Redondo Beach station once the stations west of Aviation/LAX station could accommodate 3-car trains, with the stretch southwest of the wye continuing to be served by the Metro C Line as well.^[13] An additional service would have connected Norwalk to the new Aviation/Century station and planned 96th Street Transit station and the Airport Metro Connector.^[14]

But this would require trains passing all three directions through the wye connecting the new and existing infrastructure, which Metro staff felt would unduly wear down the points. Instead, in 2018 Metro proposed a service plan that would see the newly opened segment connected to the bulk of the current C Line; the southwest segment of the C Line in the South Bay would operate as a separate shuttle between Redondo Beach and the new Aviation/Century station. The arrangement was meant to provide a seamless rail option for the passengers who transfer between the C Line and north–south bus lines in the area, as well as operationally combine the Norwalk–LAX and Crenshaw/Expo–LAX legs, which have matching capacity needs, rather than combining either with the more sparsely used Redondo Beach leg.^[15]

However, the plan was met with resistance from some board members, particularly Supervisor Janice Hahn, because it would require South Bay passengers to make multiple transfers to complete trips currently possible with only one transfer.^[16] A faction of the Metro board led by Hahn proposed a one-year pilot of an alternative routing scheme under which one line would travel from Norwalk to Expo/Crenshaw and another from Redondo Beach to Willowbrook/Rosa Parks. The proposal, dubbed C-3, was approved by the Metro board on December 6, 2018.^[17] This option will entail an additional $10 million annual operating cost over Metro's initial proposal, in large part because a substantial segment of the current C Line between Willowbrook and Aviation/LAX will see three-minute headways at peak hours. The adopted proposal will also limit the potential length of trains on the new segment to two cars due to power constraints, and will preclude a one-seat ride from the South Bay to LAX,^[18] but will maintain the ability of South Bay passengers to transfer directly to the J and A Lines.

Southern Extension to South Bay[]

The future South Bay C Line extension will extend the Metro C Line from these stub tracks at the southern end of the Redondo Beach station to Torrance.

Metro is currently working on the initial environmental study of a corridor extension of the C Line from its Redondo terminus toward the southeast. The Green Line Extension to Torrance would roughly follow the Harbor Subdivision ROW into the South Bay, to the Torrance Regional Transit Center (RTC).^[19] 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 was expected to be completed in 2011. Project was placed on hold in Spring 2012 due to uncertain funding. With the passage of Measure M in 2016, $619 million was cited for the Green Line Extension south and the study resumed, which is currently scheduled for release in mid 2020 release.^[20] The study area includes the former Harbor Subdivisions right of way. The extension study includes the Redondo Beach station to the , a 4.5-mile (7.2 km) extension study area.^[21]

According to the LA County Expenditure Plan (Measure M), groundbreaking for the project is scheduled for 2026, with expected opening in 2030–2033. The timeline is expected to be accelerated under the Twenty-eight by '28 initiative.^[22]

Eastern Extension to Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs station[]

The C Line's eastern terminus 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. Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs is also a proposed station on the California High-Speed Rail project.^[23] Local bus service is provided between the Metrolink station and the C Line terminus, but schedules are not coordinated with the C Line arrivals. While plans exist to close the gap,^[24] available Measure M funding allows for operation to start in roughly 2052.^[25][26][27]

Operations[]

Maintenance facilities[]

The C Line is operated out of the Division 22 Yard (Hawthorne Yard) and the Division 16 Yard (Southwestern Yard). These yards stores the fleet used on the C line. Light maintenance is done on the fleet in Division 22 and heavier maintenance is done in Division 16. Division 22 is located between Redondo Beach and Douglas stations. Trains enter the yard via a junction halfway between the two stations. Norwalk-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. Division 16 is located on the completed section of the K Line near the future site of Aviation/96th Street in Westchester.

Rolling stock[]

At the time the Green Line opened, the line used a fleet of Nippon Sharyo P2020 light rail vehicles, which were very similar to the older Nippon Sharyo P865 vehicles used on the Blue Line. In late 2001, the P2020 fleet was transferred to the Blue Line, and the Green Line received new Siemens P2000 railcars that have been operating on the line ever since. Kinkisharyo P3010 trains are also used. Trains are limited to two-car sets due to platform length limitations at some stations along the line.^[28]

Incidents[]

• On February 22, 2015, a train near the Hawthorne/Lennox station struck and killed a man who was trespassing onto the tracks.^[29][30]
• On August 24, 2018, a collision involving a tanker truck on the westbound lanes of the I-105 between Vermont Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard exploded with flames that crawled onto the tracks and damaged the catenary system. The rail line and the freeway were both closed for clean up and repairs.^[31]

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

Route map:

• MTA Home Page
• Green Line Home Page
• Green Line connections overview
• Green Line schedule