Quote:
Originally Posted by Quixote
It's about damn time the Blue Line and South LA got some love. I figure that grade-separating Washington/Flower alone will cut down travel time by 10 minutes during rush hour. Unfortunately, it doesn't include grade-separating the DTLB loop.
Even more reason to overturn that A/C ban!
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It will reduce travel time but not by 10 minutes, the biggest travel delays occur because;
1) Operators aren't turning trains fast enough at 7th Street Metro Center terminal. The Regional Connector or at minimum the pocket tracks and new cut and cover tunnel on Flower Street will help the turn around problem as trains move through and don't get stuck. The Red/Purple Line has routine delays of service at Union Station at rush hour because of this same exact problem and the whole line is underground.
2) The signal delay for cars turning into the 18th Street & 10 East on-ramp is where the back up occurs. Closing that on-ramp and prohibiting left turns on to 18th Street from Flower Street will improve reliability immensely because now trains only have to deal with one signal 18th Street rather than two 18th Street and the 10 East on ramp. This not only helps the trains it helps move Flower Street more effectively because that bottleneck is removed.
3) Reliability of the Siemens trains that routinely get stuck in the tunnel and cause most of the back ups and delays. Having newer trains and mid-life rehab of these trains will help with that.
4) Add signal preemption and or priority in Long Beach. The delays through Long Beach are because of no signal preemption and/or priority enabling minor streets to hold the trains. The signal preemption and priority will improve by the service by 3-5 minutes alone. If they eliminated the Loop with a more streamlined route like two way down Long Beach Blvd and new terminal station maybe even an extension to the LB Convention Center/Shoreline Village and Pike that would also improve the operation of the trains and speed up an additional 1-2 minutes because the route operations are much simpler. If there is any crossing that needs separation in Long Beach, it is Willow Street. It's the busier station and the spot where there's multiple signals at Long Beach Blvd and Willow Street in a short 500' distance.
5) Metrolink as a strategy for Express Service. With the express service idea because most of my friends who used to ride the Blue Line at my home station Wardlow now drive their cars and park and ride on the Silver Line because it is a slightly faster and more pleasant trip even though it is a higher fare. With that in mind, I think a Metrolink extension from Downtown Union Station to Del Amo Station should be considered here as well. As a regular Blue Line rider the bulk of the Blue Line ridership drops off to serve these potential riders after Del Amo Station during the peak period because of the large parking facility.
This would be faster to implement and serve more customers and because most of the Blue Line from Del Amo to Washington has freight trains running parallel through it on a daily basis (one to three trains a day) this is a perfect service extension that can serve a larger regional benefit to riders as new trips can be established like Burbank to Long Beach or From Antelope Valley to the Green Line for the connection to LAX.
All the Express train will do as currently envisioned is pose a new problem without a solution more constrained operations through Downtown LA, even if the line is underground. The solution comes in the form of another entry corridor into Downtown LA. Metrolink and WSAB will be a way to do that.
Don't get me wrong,
I think the junction and new underground station for Pico/Staples Center/Convention Center is needed however this needs to be thought of more comprehensively as an extension of the Flower Street tunnel from Convention Center all the way to Jefferson/USC with a re-configuring of the Blue Line on Washington Blvd using the eastern portion of the Expo Right of Way with new bridges and underpasses in that area will be cheaper and serve more riders and get more Federal/State grants.
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