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 line on the east side of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

's San Fernando Valley, 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 lifestyle that was prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s, which ...

and

San Fernando Road San Fernando Road is a major street in the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. Within the Burbank city limits it is signed as San Fernando Boulevard, and north of Newhall Pass it is signed as The Old Road. It was previously designated ...

. The project is being planned by the

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angeles ...

(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 i ...

. The project's timeline was accelerated under the

Twenty-eight by '28 The Twenty-eight by '28 initiative is an effort set forth by former Mayor Eric Garcetti that the City of Los Angeles complete 28 transportation infrastructure projects before the start of the 2028 Summer Olympics on and the 2028 Summer Paralymp ...

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. It consists of seven lines, including five light rail lines (the A, C, E, K, L lines) and two rapid transit (known locally as ...

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 Sylmar/San Fernando station is a Metrolink rail station located in Sylmar, California, (a neighborhood of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley) and adjacent to the city of San Fernando.Metrolink

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 Soledad C ...

, 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. Amtrak's ''Pacific Surfliner'' from San Luis Obispo to San Diego, Amtrak's ''Coast Starlight'' from Los Angeles to Seattle, Washi ...

. 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, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

routes, and the proposed

Sepulveda Transit Corridor The Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project is a two-phased planned transit corridor project that aims to connect the Los Angeles Basin to the San Fernando Valley through Sepulveda Pass in Los Angeles, California, by supplementing the existing I-4 ...

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 mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

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 The Southern California Rapid Transit District (almost always referred to as ''RTD'' or rarely as ''SCRTD'') was a public transportation agency established in 1964 to serve the Greater Los Angeles area. It was the successor to the original Lo ...

documentation.

Metro Rapid Metro Rapid is a local express bus service with bus rapid transit (BRT) characteristics in Los Angeles County, California. At its peak, Metro had dozens of Rapid routes, but , the system has been largely discontinued. Just three Metro operated Rap ...

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

Metro Local Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . , there are ...

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 Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

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 administratio ...

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

, $200 million from

Road Repair and Accountability Act The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (Senate Bill 1), also known as the " Gas Tax", is a California legislative bill that was passed on April 6, 2017 with the aim of repairing roads, improving traffic safety, and expanding public tra ...

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 an ...

. 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 Van Nuys City Hall, built in 1932 originally as the Valley Municipal Building, serves various municipal services for the San Fernando Valley residents of the City of Los Angeles such as meeting chambers and public service offices and was dedicated ...

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