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Post by bluelineshawn on Apr 3, 2011 16:01:05 GMT -8
The blue line still has about 7 of the Siemens P2000's in the yard. I wonder if one of those will be used for testing? It makes more sense to give Expo those less worn vehicles rather than the older well worn P865's. I know that metro said otherwise a few years ago, but plans could have changed.
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Post by jamesinclair on Apr 3, 2011 20:52:46 GMT -8
Ridership will be hard to track because it will spike with events at the coliseum and downtown (staples, nokia, conventions).
You might see 10,000 a day some days and 30,000 on other days.
The blue and green lines are pretty consistent.
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Post by carter on Apr 3, 2011 21:15:55 GMT -8
By this time next year, I think daily ridership will have increased to 30,000. It will reach that number fairly quickly I think, due to steadily increasing acceptance/awareness of the line by (1) USC students/faculty/staff, (2) commuters to Downtown L.A., and (3) basketball fans. Regarding #2, I think Expo ridership will be driven as much by commuting to Santa Monica as much as commuting to DTLA. I really don't think Phase 1 ridership will look like "half" of the full build-out. The real gains are going to be in getting the line to Pico/Westwood (for UCLA connections) and downtown Santa Monica. |
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Post by jeisenbe on Apr 3, 2011 21:32:57 GMT -8
I really don't think Phase 1 ridership will look like "half" of the full build-out. The real gains are going to be in getting the line to Pico/Westwood (for UCLA connections) and downtown Santa Monica. I agree. There are only 8 new stations on the first phase to open, and only the first 4 have a significant amount of employement and activity destinations (though all of the later stations, except for Farmdale, will have significant bus transfer traffic). The Culver Junction station will add some ridership, especially if some buses are re-routed to provide faster trips to Westwood and Santa Monica, compared to taking the Purple line to the 720. But until Phase 2 provides a more direct commute option from East LA county to Santa Monica and Westwood, Expo may be limited to less than 2000 boardings per station, similar to the Green or Gold lines. The Regional Connector will make things interesting, especially if oil prices continue their inconsistent upward trend: www.CaliforniaGasPrices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx?city1=California&city2=&city3=&crude=n&tme=72&units=us |
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Post by rajacobs on Apr 4, 2011 0:13:27 GMT -8
Water Gardens offices and surrounding buildings at Olympic between Cloverfield and 26th, by themselves, probably increased traffic precipitously, clogging surface streets into and out of the area. With a station planned across the street from the Water Gardens, I'm hoping that the traffic jams will ameliorate as workers choose access via Phase II Expo rather than suffer the streets or freeway. ...Yes, I agree; when station like this one come on line, ridership will increase greatly.
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Post by rajacobs on Apr 4, 2011 0:50:42 GMT -8
Regarding the sides planned for the stairs. Take a look:  These are the stairs at the Venice-Robertson/Culver station apparently nearer completion than either La Cienega or La Brea! Also at the Venice-Robertson Station, note the in-ground concrete work IN FRONT of the final columns for the station.  Is this pre-work for the bridge over Venice or something else tied in with the station? |
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Post by Justin Walker on Apr 4, 2011 5:08:31 GMT -8
IT'S OFFICIAL! THE EXPO LINE HAS A TRAIN ON IT! At 4:30 am this morning, a single Siemens LRT car was pulled by a hi-rail truck from from the Washington/Flower junction to the 23rd St. Station as part of vehicle clearance testing. Later today (Monday), crews will resume testing and pull the rail car through the USC trench. Coupling the rail car to the hi-rail truck:  Looking down the test train's path:  The rail car first encounters new track as it crosses Washington Blvd.:  Passing LA Trade Tech:  Passing LA Trade Tech:  Arriving at the 23rd St. Station:  End of the test for now:  |
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Post by metrocenter on Apr 4, 2011 7:18:55 GMT -8
IT'S OFFICIAL! THE EXPO LINE HAS A TRAIN ON IT! At 4:30 am this morning, a single Siemens LRT car was pulled by a hi-rail truck from from the Washington/Flower junction to the 23rd St. Station as part of vehicle clearance testing. Later today (Monday), crews will resume testing and pull the rail car through the USC trench. Hooray! A toast to the first train on the Expo Line (with my morning latte)! |
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Post by jdrcrasher on Apr 4, 2011 7:34:00 GMT -8
i can't believe it! Expo is almost here! thanks for the photos Justin!
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 4, 2011 7:37:45 GMT -8
Thanks Justin! You turn into a night bird and don't even sleep when there is a new train in town. I thought Darrell and Sam were early birds. Shawn was right about the Siemens car. They will later probably have to test other types of cars as well.
I will also try to catch a few pics on my way unless it's stuck in the trench.
This is great! Long-live Expo!
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Post by metrocenter on Apr 4, 2011 7:38:10 GMT -8
By this time next year, I think daily ridership will have increased to 30,000. It will reach that number fairly quickly I think, due to steadily increasing acceptance/awareness of the line by (1) USC students/faculty/staff, (2) commuters to Downtown L.A., and (3) basketball fans. Regarding #2, I think Expo ridership will be driven as much by commuting to Santa Monica as much as commuting to DTLA. I was referring to first six months of Expo Phase 1. During that time, I doubt there will be many people using the Expo Line to commute to Santa Monica. Maybe my prediction of 30,000 is too high. Part of it is riders vs. boardings. When I came up with my number (an optimistic one, for sure), I was thinking riders. This would include increased boardings from the Blue Line, Red Line or Purple Line who transfer to the Expo Line to get to someplace like USC or Expo Park. While these wouldn't be counted as Expo boardings, they would be counted as Expo riders. Let's say 22,000 boardings on the Expo Line, plus another 5,000-8,000 riders coming from elsewhere in the system. Obviously, these are just guesses. We'll see how things turn out in April 2012. |
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Post by bobdavis on Apr 4, 2011 10:42:04 GMT -8
Did anybody get the number of the Siemens test car? The photos brought to mind the arrival of Metro 238 in South Pasadena in August 2002; my wife and I stayed up until 3 AM to watch the unloading process that brought electric railway transit back to the San Gabriel Valley after over 50 years of buses only.
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 4, 2011 11:01:11 GMT -8
Expo test train is just north of USC at the moment. Darrell, I, and Alan Weeks took some pics and videos. There were at least three different TV-news vans I saw at different locations; so, there is going to be a lot of news coverage.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Apr 4, 2011 11:54:27 GMT -8
IT'S OFFICIAL! THE EXPO LINE HAS A TRAIN ON IT! Cool! And thanks for the photos! It makes sense that they would use a Siemens car. I suspect that's what will run on Expo when it opens. |
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Post by darrell on Apr 4, 2011 12:24:13 GMT -8
Did anybody get the number of the Siemens test car? It's car 231, freshly repainted and looking very nice for the occasion. I'm uploading a video to YouTube of it pulling out of the 23rd Street station at 11:27 this morning. Plus there are a lot of still photos go go through! I arrived about 9:00 a.m. The first hour was styrofoam blocks being taped on both sides of the car to mark the clearance envelope. Then we waited; they must have publicized 11:00 a.m. for the media. I left about 12:15, when the car had crossed Jefferson (after TV interviews on the Jefferson platform) and stopped before the ramp down to the underpass. Amen on Justin's great photos while it was still dark! A Metro photo in the 23rd Street station is also on The Source. |
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 4, 2011 12:44:37 GMT -8
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Post by metrocenter on Apr 4, 2011 13:09:20 GMT -8
Thanks to Gokhan (and again to Justin) for all the great pics. Here comes the pics. YouTube videos will follow: Train moving toward USC just north of Adams Boulevard. This train has a fresh paint job and looks brand-new. Note the foams attached to check clearances. Alan K. Weeks, who captured the last Air Line ride in 1953 when he was 21, is in the far background on the left waiting for a good photo opportunity:  Love this picture, with the church and the new apartment building in the background. Really puts the train into context. |
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 4, 2011 13:12:59 GMT -8
Love this picture, with the church and the new apartment building in the background. Really puts the train into context. My battery died right after this picture.  |
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Post by thanks4goingmetro on Apr 4, 2011 13:41:57 GMT -8
Here comes the pics. YouTube videos will follow: Train moving toward USC just north of Adams Boulevard. This train has a fresh paint job and looks brand-new. Note the foams attached to check clearances. Also seen in the far background on the left is Alan K. Weeks taking pics, who had also captured shots of the last ride of the Air Line (predecessor of the Expo Line) in 1953 when he was 21. 11:15 PM, 2011/04/04: Thanks so much these photos are amazing. So great seeing this in daylight. I'll try to express my gratitude with pictures of the La Cienega Station while having my coffee at the Starbucks across the street! |
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Post by darrell on Apr 4, 2011 13:55:20 GMT -8
What a milestone day! Here are highlights of my photos and video.  Waiting in the 23rd Street station for the styrofoam clearance envelope markers to be taped on - and for the media to arrive at 11:00 a.m. We're moving at 11:26 a.m.! (Watch in full-screen HD for best effect.)  Our freshly-repainted Siemens car #231 is crossing the new bridge over the Harbor Freeway. Note the blue-taped clearance envelope markers.  Heading south of Adams, Metro's video cameraman is trying a ground-level shot.  Stopped at the crossover north of the Jefferson station, also showing off the new landscaping.  The train stopped for media interviews on the Jefferson station platform and on the train (note the blue news van). This is also the first time I realized these station platforms are curved. Flaggers stop traffic at each crossing for this test train.  Heading by USC's Galen Center toward the underpass at 12:15 a.m., this is the very first view of what will be a completely common sight. |
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Post by Justin Walker on Apr 4, 2011 16:29:28 GMT -8
I'm glad you guys liked the night pictures. Here of some pics I have for today's photo pool: Train entering the trench:  Train exiting the trench on the west side:  Pulling through the Trousdale Station:  I like how the flags turned out in this shot with the hi-railer:  Passing the Vermont Station:  The crews I spoke with said they would take the train as far as Crenshaw today and go the rest of the way to La Cienega tomorrow. They also expected to conduct powered train tests starting on Friday. |
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on Apr 4, 2011 16:40:15 GMT -8
I spoke with Daryl (LN?) who is one of the engineers on the line. He also said powered train testing should start on Friday and that all is going well.
One problem they ran into is the temporary ventilation system ducts in the trench are too close to the catenary on track 3. This means they can only power track 4 from the West end of the duct until the new vent system is installed.
ALL of the USC windows were crowded with people looking at the train. Residents were hanging out windows and apartment buildings as it came past.
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Post by davebowman on Apr 4, 2011 16:41:13 GMT -8
Thanks for the great photos and video, people. I first came out to LA in (cough) 1978 to go to grad school at USC, and I didn't know the history of the Red Line at the time but as a native midwesterner it seemed very normal to me to have freight trains going down the middle of Exposition. It's very exciting to see trains back as part of the urban landscape.
I now work at USC, and hadn't checked the message board since this morning, so this afternoon I took a break and went to see if I could catch sight of the test train in the trench at the USC/Trousdale stop. No luck, of course, but two things struck me: 1) it seemed to take forever to get a Walk sign to cross Exposition after I pushed the button; and 2) the cars zooming down Exposition were really hauling the mail. It would be a drag to see a train go by while waiting for a Walk sign, but the idea of jaywalking makes me a little nervous. Does anybody know if the Walk signs for the crosswalk at Trousdale will be coordinated with the trains stopping? If not, during high-traffic periods (rush hour, Coliseum event) a lot of people getting off at that stop could get squeezed into the waiting area. It does have bollards, but still . . .
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 4, 2011 17:08:21 GMT -8
Thanks for the nice pics and info, everyone. Friday for power-on sounds good.
Here is another video from a different angle, which also captured Darrell Clarke shooting his video above. I wonder if I there is anyone who captured me shooting my video. LOL
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 4, 2011 18:29:49 GMT -8
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Post by jamesinclair on Apr 4, 2011 21:24:02 GMT -8
Great pictures everyone
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Post by joshuanickel on Apr 4, 2011 21:29:05 GMT -8
And this is where the Expo train sleeps -- between Watt Way and Menlo Avenue in Exposition Boulevard median light-rail right-of-way next to USC:   Is that a security guard there to watch the train tonight? |
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Post by darrell on Apr 4, 2011 22:31:19 GMT -8
Is that a security guard there to watch the train tonight? Yes. I drove by tonight and saw both a guard and sections of chain link fencing. |
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 5, 2011 6:39:39 GMT -8
Disturbingly, for the second time in a week, I saw a teenager (a different one) walking inside the fenced right-of-way west of Vermont Ave. Hopefully they will start cracking down on these oblivious teens before one of them gets hit by the train.
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 5, 2011 6:56:52 GMT -8
See the great video coverage of yesterday's tests by KABC Channel 7. Justin Walker is also interviewed. |
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