The Metro A Line (Blue Line) Legacy:
The Rebirth of Light Rail in California

On July 14, 1990, the Metro A Line—known as the Blue Line from 1990 to 2022—opened between Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles, becoming California's first modern light rail system and the first new rail transit line in Los Angeles County since the Pacific Electric's final run in 1961. Thirty-six years later, the A Line is the backbone of LACMTA's light rail network, now through-running to Azusa via the Regional Connector and carrying over 60,000 daily boardings. Its history is the history of modern rail transit in Southern California.

The Political Foundation: Proposition A (1980)

The Blue Line's existence traces directly to Proposition A, the November 1980 half-cent sales tax approved by 54% of Los Angeles County voters. The measure's passage—after decades of failed rail transit proposals—reflected a combination of energy crisis anxiety, growing highway congestion, and the lessons of the 1979 oil shock on automobile-dependent transportation systems.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission (LACTC), which administered Proposition A funds, faced the question of where to build the first line. The LACTC's planning studies identified several candidate corridors, but the Long Beach corridor—following the Long Beach Freeway and then the former Pacific Electric/Southern Pacific right-of-way— stood out for its combination of high travel demand, available right-of-way, and relatively low construction cost.

Construction on the Blue Line began in 1987, three years before the Metro B Line (Red Line) subway broke ground. The contrast between the two projects was significant: the Blue Line used existing surface and elevated right-of-way, keeping costs at approximately $877 million for 22 miles ($40 million per mile)—a fraction of the subway's cost per mile. The institutional context of the LACTC and its relationship to SCRTD during this period is described in the LACTC and B Line history.

July 14, 1990: Opening Day

The Blue Line opened to the public on July 14, 1990, operating between 7th Street/Metro Center in downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach Transit Mall at the southern end of the 22-mile corridor. Opening day ridership exceeded projections, with enthusiastic crowds boarding at each of the 22 stations. Governor George Deukmejian attended the ceremony in Long Beach.

The significance of the opening was not lost on transit observers: for the first time in 29 years, Los Angeles had electric rail transit. The line passed through communities— Compton, Watts, Willowbrook—that had been among the most transit-dependent in the county while receiving the least investment in transit infrastructure. The Blue Line was, from the outset, a corridor with significant equity implications.

The original rolling stock—Nippon Sharyo P865 light rail vehicles, later supplemented by Siemens P2000 cars—were four-section, 90-foot low-floor vehicles capable of operating in two-car and three-car consists. Their orange and white livery became the visual symbol of LA's rail renaissance.

The At-Grade Challenge: Safety and Operations

The Blue Line's 22 miles include approximately 15 miles of at-grade operations, primarily along the Long Beach Freeway median and through surface streets in Long Beach. At-grade operations created a persistent safety challenge that dominated the line's first decade. Automobile-train collisions at grade crossings were a significant problem: the Blue Line averaged more than 50 grade crossing incidents per year during the 1990s, a rate that prompted federal scrutiny and extensive operational changes.

LACMTA's response included engineering improvements (improved crossing signals and gates, raised medians to prevent illegal crossings), operational changes (speed restrictions at specific crossings), and enforcement partnerships with LAPD and Long Beach PD. The incident rate declined substantially through the 2000s as infrastructure improvements accumulated, but at-grade operations remain an inherent operational constraint of the corridor compared to the fully grade-separated rail lines.

Ridership Growth and System Integration

Blue Line ridership grew steadily through the 1990s and 2000s, driven by population growth along the corridor, rising fuel costs, and improving regional rail connectivity. The opening of the Metro A/C Line interchange at Willowbrook/Rosa Parks in 1995—where the Green Line (C Line) crosses the Blue Line—created the system's first true light rail interchange and made connections between South LA and the South Bay possible without bus transfers.

The 2012 opening of the Expo Line (E Line) Phase 1 from 7th Street/Metro Center to Culver City was the most significant connectivity improvement for the Blue Line. The Expo Line shared the 7th Street/Metro Center terminus, and though through-running was not yet possible, the combined ridership at the shared downtown station increased substantially. Full integration came with the 2023 Regional Connector, which enabled Blue Line trains to run through to Azusa via the E and L Lines.

Rolling Stock Evolution: 35 Years of Fleet Management

The A Line's rolling stock history reflects the challenges of fleet management over a 35-year operational span. The original Nippon Sharyo P865 fleet—designed in the late 1980s—had reached the end of its useful life by the mid-2010s. LACMTA's fleet replacement program introduced Kinkisharyo Series 6 light rail vehicles, larger and more comfortable than the P865s, capable of operating in three-car consists that increase maximum train capacity.

New Kinkisharyo Series 7 vehicles are entering service in 2025–2026, featuring improved accessibility, updated passenger information systems, and USB charging. The Series 7 procurement is part of LACMTA's broader fleet standardization effort that also covers the E Line and K Line fleets, enabling shared maintenance and parts inventory across multiple corridors.

The A Line and Its Corridor Communities

The most important and often underappreciated aspect of the A Line's legacy is its relationship with the communities it serves. The corridor passes through neighborhoods— Compton, Watts, Willowbrook—that are among the lowest-income in Los Angeles County and that have historically had high transit dependency. For these communities, the Blue Line/A Line represented a transit quality upgrade from bus service: faster, more frequent, more reliable, and air-conditioned.

At the same time, the A Line corridor has experienced significant transit-oriented development pressure since the 2000s—particularly around Long Beach and Compton stations—that has raised affordable housing concerns. The relationship between the E Line and housing affordability is examined in the E Line Transit-Oriented Development article; many of the same dynamics apply to the A Line corridor.

The A Line's legacy as California's first modern light rail system extends beyond its ridership numbers. It proved that light rail transit was viable in a low-density, automobile-oriented metropolitan area—a proposition that was genuinely uncertain when the Blue Line opened in 1990. That proof enabled every subsequent light rail investment in California, from San Diego to Sacramento, from San Jose to the expanding LA network that now totals eight lines. The RTD Grid Service history and the LACTC and B Line history provide the full institutional context in which this pioneering investment was made.