The East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project (formerly the East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor Project) is a transit project constructing a

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

line on the east side of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

, running on a north–south route along

Van Nuys Boulevard Van Nuys Boulevard is a major north–south arterial road that runs through the central San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. The boulevard was notable for its Cruising (driving), cruising lifestyle that was prevalent in the 1 ...

and the

Antelope Valley Line The Antelope Valley Line is a commuter rail line that serves the Northern Los Angeles County area as part of the Metrolink system. The northern segment of the line is rural in character because it travels through the sparsely populated Soleda ...

. The project is being planned by the

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), branded as Metro, is the county agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the Transportation in Los Angeles, public transportation system in Los Ang ...

(Metro) and has been given high priority by Metro in its long-range plan, and funding for the project is included in

Measure R Measure R was a ballot measure during the November 2008 elections in Los Angeles County, California, that proposed a half-cent sales taxes increase on each dollar of taxable sales (originating in or made from Los Angeles County) for thirty years ...

and

Measure M Measure R was a ballot measure during the November 2008 elections in Los Angeles County, California, that proposed a half-cent sales taxes increase on each dollar of taxable sales (originating in or made from Los Angeles County) for thirty years ...

. The project's timeline was accelerated under the Twenty-eight by '28 initiative. In June 2018, Metro staff recommended the corridor be built as an at-grade rail line without tunneling, making it a part of the

Los Angeles Metro Rail The Los Angeles Metro Rail is an urban rail transit system serving Los Angeles County, California, United States, consisting of six lines: four light rail lines (the A, C, E and K lines) and two rapid transit lines (the B and D lines), ...

system. In December 2020, Metro approved the Final EIR with the option to build the rail line in segments. On December 2, 2022, Metro officially began advanced utility relocation for the line. The tentative completion date for the first phase of the project is 2031.

Overview

The northern end of the proposed line is Sylmar/San Fernando station, providing a connection to the Metrolink

, and the southern end would be the G Line's

Van Nuys station Van Nuys station is an Amtrak and Metrolink train station in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, close to the neighborhood of Panorama City. Amtrak's ''Pacific Surfliner'' from San Luis Obispo to San Diego, Amtrak's ''Coast ...

. An important intermediary stop would be at the currently existing Van Nuys Metrolink and Amtrak station, where passengers could transfer to the

Ventura County Line The Metrolink Ventura County Line is a commuter rail line serving Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles, in the Southern California system. The line is the successor of the short lived C ...

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

routes, and the proposed

Sepulveda Transit Corridor The Sepulveda Transit Corridor is a two-phased planned transit corridor in Los Angeles, California. Its first phase aims to connect the San Fernando Valley to the Los Angeles Basin through the Sepulveda Pass. A second phase would further extend ...

to the Westside. The Metro staff recommendation included 14 stations for the line. The

Pacific Electric The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned Public transport, mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electr ...

San Fernando Line The San Fernando Line was a part of the Pacific Electric Railway system in Los Angeles County, California. It was designed to increase the reach of public transportation from the Downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood into the San Fernando Valley ...

ran a north–south line between Downtown Los Angeles and San Fernando, partially on Van Nuys Avenue, from 1911 to 1952 before being dismantled and converted to bus service. The project route was portrayed in the project map included in the 1980 Proposition A documentation.

Metro Rapid Metro Rapid is a bus service in Los Angeles County, California, operated as part of the Los Angeles Metro Bus system. Metro Rapid service was introduced in the early 2000s to provide faster service on major corridors in Los Angeles, with stops sp ...

bus lines that serve the route are route 761 on Van Nuys Boulevard, with additional

Metro Local The Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). Metro Bus operates in the Los Angeles Basin, the San Fernando Valley, and th ...

lines supplementing both. Planning for the line will take into consideration other major planned infrastructure projects, including a

rail link, the conversion of the G Line from bus rapid transit to light rail, and double tracking of the Metrolink

. The Draft Environmental Impact Report was completed and released in September 2017, and the final clearance was granted by the

Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...

in February 2021. By 2020, funds were being acquired, with $800 million coming from

, $200 million from

Road Repair and Accountability Act A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. The w ...

gas tax, and $200 million from other state-level sources. In 2022, the

issued a Letter of Intent to provide $909 million to fund the project. In 2024, this turned into a signed agreement for an $893 million federal grant from the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

. This grant was received by Metro on September 6, 2024. In January 2023, the project was awarded another $600 million out of the state's Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, originating from the state's budget surplus in prior years. The capital project cost for the first phase is estimated to be $3.635 billion.

History

Six initial alternatives were developed during the environmental review process:

Route Selection: Alternative Six

In June 2018, Metro staff recommended a modified version of Alternative 6, using high-floor light rail vehicles like other Metro Rail lines but entirely on the street and at grade. The underground section between Sherman Way and Roscoe stations was eliminated due to the high costs of tunneling. Metro approved the project with $1.3 billion in funds, initiating the final EIR. The northern terminus will be the Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink station. The light rail train will run southeast for on San Fernando Road to Van Nuys Boulevard. It then heads south on Van Nuys Boulevard for reaching the Van Nuys Metrolink station. Its southern terminus will be the Van Nuys G Line station near L.A.'s Van Nuys City Hall further south. By 2023, Metro initiated a new study of the northern phase of the project to better plan for how to share the right of way with an expanded

. Since development of the ESFVLRT began, Metrolink had released plans to double track their line, which was not adequately accounted for in the initial plans.

Construction

The line is planned to be built in two phases: the first runs from the Van Nuys G Line station to San Fernando Road with the remaining segment to be completed later. Groundbreaking occurred in December 2022, with operations to begin in 2031.

References

External links

* {{Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Transportation in Los Angeles Transportation in the San Fernando Valley Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Los Angeles Metro Rail projects Public transportation in Los Angeles Public transportation in Los Angeles County, California Proposed railway lines in California 2031 in rail transport