L.A. Metro reopens D Line Subway ahead of completion of Phase 1 of D Line Subway Extension Project
The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A. Metro) reopened the Purple (D Line) Subway July 26. The agency notes the D Line was closed since May 17 as it worked at Wilshire/Western Station to tie the current D Line to the future D Line Subway Extension. The D Line trains run every 12 minutes from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
According to L.A. Metro, Phase 1 of the D Line Subway Extension Project, which broke ground in 2014 and is being constructed by a joint venture among Skanska, Traylor Brothers and Shea Construction, will extend the D Line from its existing terminus at Wilshire/Western Station nearly four miles west, adding three new stations at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega stations. L.A. Metro says phases 2 and 3, which will bring the D Line to Century City and then Westwood, Calif., are anticipated to open in 2027 and 2028, respectively. L.A. Metro notes the project is the longest tunneling project through tar-infested sands ever in the U.S.
Phase 1 is expected to open this fall. During the past few months, the agency has been testing various parts of the system, including:
- Connecting the computer systems that regulate various aspects of the underground subway environment, such as air quality and ventilation.
- Installing Automatic Train Control on the system, allowing the agency to know a train’s precise position on a track and relative to other trains, what direction it’s running, when it left the last station and when it will arrive at the next station.
- Installing crossovers that are about 300 feet long at Wilshire/La Brea and Wilshire/La Cienega stations so that if a train stalls or if there is an emergency, the train can pass into another tunnel segment.
- Testing both the existing A650 trains and the new HR4000s trains, which the agency says have started to run with large, water-filled containers on board to approximate the weight of real passengers.