A Line (Los Angeles Metro)

The A Line runs 22.0 miles (35.4 km) between Downtown Los Angeles and Downtown Long Beach and has 22 stations.[1]

The line's northern terminus is the underground 7th Street/Metro Center station. After rising to street level, trains run south along Flower Street, sharing tracks with the E Line. Passengers can connect to the bus rapid transit J Line at 7th Street/Metro Center, Pico, and Grand stations. The A and E Lines diverge at Flower Street and Washington Boulevard just south of downtown Los Angeles. Here the A Line turns east on Washington Boulevard before turning south into the former Pacific Electric right-of-way at Long Beach Avenue. This historic rail corridor has four tracks, two for Metro Rail trains and two for freight trains. Along the corridor, there are some elevated sections to either eliminate street crossings in more densely populated areas or pass over diverging freight train tracks. Passengers can connect with the C Line at the Willowbrook station. Just south of Willow station, A Line trains exit the rail corridor and begin street running in the median of Long Beach Boulevard into the city of Long Beach, where trains travel through the Long Beach Transit Mall while making a loop using 1st Street, Pacific Avenue, and 8th Street.

A Line trains run every day between approximately 4:00 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. Trains operate every ten minutes during peak hours Monday through Friday, and every twelve minutes during the daytime on weekdays and all day on the weekends after approximately 8 a.m. (with a 15/20-minute headway early Saturday and Sunday mornings). Night service is every 20 minutes.[4]

The A Line takes 53 minutes[5] to travel its 22.0 mile (35.4 km) length,[1] at an average speed of 24.9 miles per hour (40.1 km/h). Trips taking an hour or more, however, are not unusual.

The following is the complete list of stations, from north to south.

Station	Date Opened	City/Neighborhood	Major connections and notes[6][7]
7th Street/Metro Center	February 15, 1991	Downtown Los Angeles
Pico	July 14, 1990
Grand/LATTC
San Pedro Street		South Los Angeles
Washington
Vernon
Slauson
Florence		Florence-Graham	Park and ride: 116 spaces
Firestone
103rd Street/Watts Towers		Watts	Park and ride: 64 spaces
Willowbrook		Willowbrook	Park and ride: 234 spaces
Compton		Compton
Artesia			Park and ride: 288 spaces
Del Amo		Carson	Park and ride: 362 spaces
Wardlow		Long Beach	Park and ride: 139 spaces
Willow Street			Park and ride: 927 spaces
Pacific Coast Highway
Anaheim Street
5th Street (southbound only)	September 1, 1990
1st Street (southbound only)
Downtown Long Beach (northbound only)
Pacific Avenue (northbound only)

Metro is currently testing the Regional Connector, a light rail subway tunnel in Downtown Los Angeles that will connect the A and E Lines to the L Line and allow a seamless "one-seat ride" on the A Line to Union Station. When this project is completed, service will be simplified into the following configuration:[13]

• A Line
  • The northeastern segment of the L Line (north of Little Tokyo/Arts District) will serve as an extension to the current A Line
  • The Foothill Extension will also be absorbed into the A Line, extending it further to Pomona–North station upon completion
• E Line
  • The southern portion of the current L Line to East L.A. will be combined with the current E Line, which will keep the E Line name but use the gold color on maps

The groundbreaking for constructing the Regional Connector took place on September 30, 2014, and it is expected to be in public service in early 2023.[14]

A Line train arriving at 7th Street Metro Center.

The line often operates at capacity, and various options to increase capacity have been considered, such as four-car or more frequent trains. Both have problems: it would be difficult or impossible to lengthen some of the station platforms, and the number of trains already causes delays for other vehicles at level crossings. Thus it may not be possible to increase A Line ridership without a costly grade-separation project, either by elevation, by an entrenchment method similar to that used by the nearby Alameda Corridor freight rail "expressway," or by building another parallel transit corridor to relieve capacity strains from the A Line. When the Regional Connector project linking A and E Line tracks with the L Line tracks in Little Tokyo is completed, this may result in even more capacity problems, with ridership expected to grow even more once the connector is open for service.

A Metro A Line train heading to Long Beach arrives at Willow station.

Over 120 motorists and pedestrians have been killed at A Line level crossings since 1990. There have been more than 800 collisions,[15][16] making the line easily the country's deadliest and most collision-prone rail line.[17]

Train at the Slauson station

In 1998, the MTA commissioned Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. to evaluate the cause of Blue Line collisions and recommend affordable solutions. The study reported the high ridership (over 70,000 per day) was a contributor:

The MBL has one of the highest ridership counts for light rail lines in the Country. This factor is perhaps the most important contributor to the grade-crossing accident rate. The high ridership results in increased pedestrian traffic near stations compared to other light rail systems. In addition, although MTA Operations does not allow high passenger loads to dictate safe operations, there is pressure to maintain travel times and headway schedule requirements (e.g., a passenger trip from Los Angeles to Long Beach in less than one hour).

Other contributing factors identified were the high population density leading to more pedestrian and vehicular traffic around the tracks, the diverse varied socio-economic community around the line that creates literacy and language difficulties for public education campaigns, driver frustration due to the slow traffic speeds around the line that leads to more risk-taking behavior, and the shared right-of-way with freight traffic in the fastest running section from Washington station to Willow station, where trains operate at a maximum of 55 mph (89 km/h) between stations.

The collision rate has declined somewhat following the installation of four-quadrant gates at some crossings where the A Line shares the right-of-way with freight rail between Willowbrook station and Artesia station. The gates prevent drivers from going around lowered gates. In addition, cameras along some problem intersections issue traffic tickets when drivers go around gates.

The A Line is operated out of the Division 11 Yard (208th Street Yard) located at 4350 East 208th Street. This yard stores the fleet used on the A Line. It is also where heavy maintenance is done on the fleet. The Yard is located between Del Amo and Wardlow stations. Trains get to this yard via a wye junction on the southbound tracks. Northbound trains can enter and exit the yard via the cross tracks on the north and south side of the junction.

Blue Line train in the 1990s

The A Line has seen every light rail rolling stock on Metro's roster throughout its history of operation. The line currently uses 3 different types of rolling stock from Siemens, AnsaldoBreda and Kinki Sharyo.

When the Blue Line first opened in 1990, the line had 54 Nippon Sharyo P865 light rail vehicles, numbered 100–153. These cars wore a unique livery consisting of several blue stripes and a single red stripe, reflecting the Blue Line's color designation and its Pacific Electric Red Car heritage.

In 2000, Metro transferred all 15 Nippon Sharyo P2020 (Numbered 154-168) light rail vehicles from the Green Line to the Blue Line fleet. These light rail vehicles were nearly identical to the older P865 model but were about five years newer and originally had an automated control panel for automatic train operation in each cab.[18]

In 2012, Metro transferred some Siemens P2000 light rail vehicles from the Gold Line to the Blue Line fleet.

In 2017, the Blue Line received 78 Kinki Sharyo P3010 light rail vehicles, the first new fleet since it opened in 1990. As the P3010 fleet was introduced, Metro gradually retired all of the remaining P865 light rail vehicles, the original vehicles used on the line. In 2021, the final deliveries of the P3010s resulted in the 15 P2020 railcars retiring as Metro has no more room for the aging vehicles.

A Line vehicles are maintained and stored at the Division 11 yard in Long Beach between Del Amo and Wardlow stations. This facility can house and maintain 86 light rail cars.

By the time of the Regional Connector opening in 2023, Division 24 in Monrovia was acquired for A Line service during testing as the A and L lines will merge into one route. This allows the P2550 fleet to operate on the original Blue Line portion of the A Line.