Tram systems in Los Angeles

Trams first appeared in Los Angeles on 1 July 1874, when the horse-drawn Spring and Sixth Street Railway began operating. Other horse tramways followed, while cable railways were introduced during the 1880s to serve the growing city and its hillside neighbourhoods. An early electric tramway opened along Pico Boulevard in 1887, although this initial operation proved unsuccessful and reverted to horse traction. More reliable electric systems subsequently replaced both horse and cable operation.

By the early twentieth century, two distinct electric railway networks were emerging. The Los Angeles Railway, commonly associated with its Yellow Cars, provided local streetcar services through central Los Angeles and the surrounding neighbourhoods. The Pacific Electric Railway, known for its Red Cars, developed a much wider interurban network linking Los Angeles with outlying towns, coastal resorts and suburban communities.

The consolidation of railway companies in the Great Merger of 1911 established the broad division between these systems. Pacific Electric concentrated on regional services, while the Los Angeles Railway operated the dense urban streetcar network. Despite the greater geographical reach of Pacific Electric, the Yellow Cars carried substantially more passengers.

Pacific Electric grew into a network of more than 1,000 miles, reaching destinations across Southern California. Its lines helped shape the region’s development by making it possible to live considerable distances from central Los Angeles while travelling there by electric railway. The network reached its greatest extent during the 1920s.

Increasing car ownership, road congestion and changing travel patterns weakened the railway networks. Street-running services became caught in traffic, while buses offered operators an alternative that required less fixed infrastructure. Although the Second World War brought a temporary recovery in railway traffic, closures accelerated during the post-war period as transport investment increasingly favoured roads and freeways.

Pacific Electric sold its remaining passenger operations to Metropolitan Coach Lines in 1953. These passed into public ownership under the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1958. The final former Pacific Electric passenger service, between Los Angeles and Long Beach, ended on 9 April 1961. The remaining former Los Angeles Railway streetcar services survived until 1963, bringing the city’s original tramway era to a close.

Growing concern about congestion and the limitations of a road-based transport system prompted renewed interest in rail. In 1980, Los Angeles County voters approved Proposition A, a sales tax supporting public transport improvements. This provided an important financial foundation for rebuilding an urban rail network, and construction of the Blue Line began in 1985.

Modern light rail opened on 14 July 1990, when the Blue Line, now the A Line, began carrying passengers between Downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach. It reused much of the former Pacific Electric corridor. The Long Beach loop opened later that year, followed by the extension into the underground terminal at 7th Street/Metro Center in February 1991.

The Green Line, now the C Line, followed on 12 August 1995, connecting Norwalk with Redondo Beach. Much of its route was built within the median of the Interstate 105 freeway, creating an east-west connection across the southern part of the metropolitan area.

The Gold Line opened in 2003 between Union Station and Pasadena. It was extended through Little Tokyo and Boyle Heights to East Los Angeles in November 2009, while the Pasadena end was extended to Azusa in March 2016.

The Expo Line, now the E Line, opened in stages to Culver City in 2012. Its extension to Downtown Santa Monica opened on 20 May 2016, restoring passenger rail along a former Pacific Electric corridor and bringing light rail to the coast.

A further corridor opened on 7 October 2022, when the first section of the K Line began operating between Expo/Crenshaw and Westchester/Veterans. This introduced light rail through the Crenshaw district and Inglewood.

The Regional Connector opened on 16 June 2023, linking the light rail routes through a new tunnel beneath Downtown Los Angeles. Its opening allowed the former Blue and northern Gold Line routes to become a continuous A Line between Long Beach and Azusa. The Expo Line and the eastern section of the Gold Line were joined to form the E Line between Santa Monica and East Los Angeles. The separate Gold Line service, by then designated the L Line, was discontinued.

The C and K lines were reorganised in November 2024, when Aviation/Century station opened and the former C Line route towards Redondo Beach became part of the K Line. Initially, the K Line operated in two sections. The opening of LAX/Metro Transit Center on 6 June 2025 closed the remaining gap, allowing through services between Expo/Crenshaw and Redondo Beach, with the C Line operating between Norwalk and the new interchange.

The A Line was extended from Azusa to Pomona North on 19 September 2025, adding stations at Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne/Fairplex and Pomona North. This completed the latest expansion of the operating light rail network.

Los Angeles currently has 4 tram lines, which are listed below.

Line	Description
A	Line A runs between Pomona North and Downtown Long Beach via Pasadena, Union Station, Downtown Los Angeles and Compton.
C	Line C runs between Norwalk and LAX/Metro Transit Center via Willowbrook/Rosa Parks, Harbor Freeway and Aviation/Imperial.
E	Line E runs between Downtown Santa Monica and Atlantic via Culver City, Exposition Park, Downtown Los Angeles and Boyle Heights.
K	Line K runs between Expo/Crenshaw and Redondo Beach via Leimert Park, Inglewood, LAX/Metro Transit Center and El Segundo.

Los Angeles’ light rail network uses standard-gauge track (1,435 mm) and is electrified at 750 V DC, supplied through overhead wires and collected by pantographs. The four light rail lines form a technically distinct system from the B and D subway lines, which use third-rail power and different rolling stock.

The network combines tracks within streets, reserved surface alignments, elevated structures and tunnels. Former railway corridors accommodate substantial sections of the system, while much of the C Line follows the median of Interstate 105. Surface sections include road crossings, giving parts of the network a different operating character from its segregated underground and elevated sections.

The A and E lines share tracks through central Los Angeles, including the Regional Connector tunnel and its three underground stations at Little Tokyo/Arts District, Historic Broadway and Grand Av Arts/Bunker Hill. The K Line includes a tunnel beneath the northern part of the Crenshaw corridor, with underground stations at Expo/Crenshaw, Martin Luther King Jr. and Leimert Park.

Stations have raised platforms designed for boarding the high-floor light rail vehicles. Access is provided by walkways, ramps or lifts, depending on the station layout, and all four lines accommodate passengers using wheelchairs.

The network uses articulated, double-ended light rail vehicles with driving cabs at both ends and doors on both sides. Vehicles can be coupled together to form longer trains, allowing capacity to be adjusted to the requirements of each route.

Three principal vehicle types make up the fleet:

• Siemens P2000: A fleet of 52 vehicles introduced from 1996. These have been undergoing a midlife modernisation programme to renew equipment and extend their working lives.
• AnsaldoBreda P2550: A fleet of 50 articulated high-floor vehicles, originally supplied for the Gold Line. Kinkisharyo has undertaken their midlife modernisation.
• Kinkisharyo P3010: The largest fleet, comprising 235 vehicles introduced from 2016. These operate across all four light rail lines. Final assembly took place in Palmdale, California, and the final vehicle in the order was delivered in January 2021.

The P3010 vehicles have high floors, air-conditioned passenger accommodation, passenger information displays and communication equipment linking passengers with the driver. Their widespread use provides a common vehicle type across routes with markedly different infrastructure, from street-level sections to underground operation.

A new light rail line is being built along Van Nuys Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley. The initial route will extend approximately 10.8 km (6.7 miles) from the G Line busway in Van Nuys to San Fernando Road in Pacoima, with 11 stations serving Van Nuys, Panorama City, Arleta and Pacoima.

The line will provide a new north-south public transport connection through the valley, serving residential neighbourhoods, shopping areas, schools and medical facilities. It will restore passenger rail to Van Nuys Boulevard for the first time since Pacific Electric services ended in 1952.

Following earlier utility relocation works, a groundbreaking ceremony for the main construction phase took place on 19 October 2026. Completion is currently targeted for 2032.

The A Line is being extended eastwards from Pomona North to a new station in Claremont. The approximately 3.7 km (2.3-mile) extension will bring Metro light rail farther into the eastern San Gabriel Valley.

The project is in final design and pre-construction, with major construction expected to begin in late 2027 and take approximately four years. Completion is currently anticipated in 2031, although the detailed construction programme remains subject to development as design progresses.

Metro is developing the Southeast Gateway Line, a new light rail route connecting Slauson station on the A Line with Artesia. The initial route will extend approximately 23.3 km (14.5 miles), serving communities across southeast Los Angeles County. It will include nine new light rail stations and a new interchange station on the existing C Line at Interstate 105.

The project has received environmental approval, and design and preparations for enabling works are underway. These preparations include planning the relocation of freight railway tracks and utilities to make space for the new line.

Metro currently targets completion in 2035. This remains a project target, with delivery dependent on securing the remaining funding and progressing the main construction programme.