Metro A Line Cab View: Azusa - Long Beach

The Regional Connector is open! Ride along on one of the first in service trains to run on the longest light rail line in the World!

[@flamingorange8857]

0:00 APU / Citrus College 0:53 Azusa Downtown 3:22 Irwindale 6:13 Duarte / City of Hope 9:04 Monrovia 11:28 Arcadia 15:32 Sierra Madre Villa 18:31 Allen 20:18 Lake 22:09 Memorial Park 23:44 Del Mar 25:15 Fillmore 28:07 South Pasadena 31:32 Highland Park 35:33 Southwest Museum 37:23 Heritage Square 38:46 Lincoln / Cypress 41:16 Chinatown 42:52 Union Station 45:53 Little Tokyo / Arts District 48:09 Historic Broadway 49:21 Grand Ave Arts / Bunker Hill 51:04 7th Street / Metro Center 53:25 Pico 55:41 Grand / LATTC 59:41 San Pedro St 1:02:35 Washington 1:05:41 Vernon 1:07:45 Slauson 1:09:27 Florence 1:11:05 Firestone 1:12:57 103rd St / Watts Towers 1:14:56 Willowbrook / Rosa Parks 1:18:27 Compton 1:21:31 Artesia 1:26:15 Del Amo 1:29:43 Wardlow 1:31:49 Willow St 1:35:00 Pacific Coast Hwy 1:37:07 Anaheim St 1:38:53 5th St 1:40:53 1st St 1:41:40 Downtown Long Beach

[@flattrain5834]

W

[@alexanderbanos8125]

Now that's what I call the real "Pasadena Blue Line" ride! Since the 1990's, LA Metro had envisioned extending the Blue Line (now A Line since 2020) up to Pasadena from 7th Street/Metro Center station. By 1998, the "Pasadena Blue Line" project began. However, in that same year, a proposition was passed which banned LA from building new subway tunnels. This resulted in the "Pasadena Blue Line" becoming a separate light rail line, which therefore became the Gold Line (later became L Line in 2020) by 2003. Finally by today, the Regional Connector was completed and opened to the public, finally supplying the "missing link" from the existing "Long Beach Blue Line" to the "Pasadena Gold Line". This finally achieved LA Metro's longtime vision of the "Pasadena Blue Line".

[@manilowmaniak]

Call it what it should be called: The Last Resort Line. It is one of the most ill-conceived, poorly designed lines in L.A.

[@HUNTtheTRUTH1]

The crazy thing is this train will eventually go to Montclair, with plans to see it go as far as the Ontario airport! That'll be amazing!

[@theghostofmrcow1985]

That would be a long trian. Imagine Long Beach to Ontario airport. All metro needs is an express train.

[@jordanjohnson9866]

Nah. Nah go crazy thing. Not crazy thing. /

[@theghostofmrcow1985]

The operator seems cool. Tell him us railfans want to thank him for allowing you to share this experience.

[@Absolute_Zero7]

Its not just the longest LRT in the US, its the longest tram line in the world, beating the previous record holder the Belgian Coastal Tram.

[@jonathansy4552]

tbf the Kusttram is a real tram line using real low-floor tram rolling stock and this is just fraudulent metro wannabe lol

[@Absolute_Zero7]

@@jonathansy4552 There are plenty of high floor trams in the world, even in Europe. The LA vehicles are by all definitions trams. Now I do agree that the choice of mode in LA is very suspect and that it probably should've been a metro... but it isn't.

[@drdewott9154]

Another claim to the throne could've been the Aarhus Lightrail's L1 line in Denmark between Aarhus Central station and Grenaa which is 1 kilometer longer than the Kusttram. However some might consider that a Tramtrain since it runs on an old regional railway that has been modified for tram use and uses 100km/h low floor tram trains.

[@jonathansy4552]

@@Absolute_Zero7 what are the definitions?

[@Absolute_Zero7]

@@jonathansy4552 A vehicle that runs on rails and has enough acceleration/deceleration to operate along streets - allowing for flexible routing in many different environments

[@travelsofmunch1476]

The fact that Metro light rail trains don't have signal prioritization despite the billions being spent pains me to no end

[@videonut1988]

Since 1990, on street running, the Blue Line has to follow the same traffic rules when on non-ROWs (Right of Ways).

[@hamswakii]

Yeah, the lack of signal prioritization has been a PAIN, especially during the period they were testing the Regional Connector before the opening (and used older trains typically not used in revenue traffic). They need grade separation in places like Flower, Washington and the city of Long Beach. As it is now, need to leave for work 25-30 mins early because you never know if you are going to make it on time.

[@The_Poro_King]

And the fact the regional connector station were built for 3 cars instead of 4 cars

[@hamswakii]

@@The_Poro_King Very good point, I didn't even think of that. ALWAYS leave enough space for future expansion.

[@andrewtesta5944]

Was that a rail tower outside union station

[@fullertonfoamer]

Wow, the new sections of tunnel are so much more well lit than the original ones past 7th st

[@DDELE7]

Congrats to LA Metro for completing Regional Connector. It will be a big a game changer to the Metro as the Chrystie Street connection was to the NYC subway 50 years ago.

[@JonFether]

Such wonderful driving at 1:04:33 - blew a red light and railroad crossing. Clearly needs a four quadrant gate. I rode this line when it originally opened with my late grandmother. This segment is part of the historical Pacific Electric line.

[@euphoniacarstairs2955]

This feels like an asmr video. Nice and relaxing.

[@the.jk.adventures]

Now for the next useful project... make everything in between Pico station and that god-forsaken left turn onto Washington underground as well... that intersection is a nightmare.

[@danielkelly2210]

Jefferson/USC > Pico and Washington > Pico should definitely be tunnelized.

[@Jeff-uj8xi]

Where is video of the inaugural ceremony and ribbon cutting at Little Tokyo Station? I looked everywhere and couldn't find it. Hard to believe nobody, not even Metro recorded the historic event. Pacific Electric and the Los Angeles Railway lives !! General Motors and National City Lines eat your hearts out. Who says trolley cars are dead? It was a tragic mistake to scrap them in the first place. When I protested years ago I was ridiculed and called a trolley jolly. Now they call me a transit expert. Vindication is sweet.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

In the next couple years this line will get even longer once the North Pomona extension opens.

[@bbartky]

Great video! I live in Ventura County and I have some friends who live a few blocks from the Downtown Azusa station. I can take Amtrak or Metrolink to Union Station and then switch to the Gold Line. 👍

[@javierbarrucz7755]

WHAT A TRAIN RIDE AWESOME.💯💯💯👍👍👍🚉🚉🚉🚉

[@dennisthebrony2022]

The A line, the longest LRT line in LA, also the LONGEST SUBWAY LINE IN NYC!!!

[@MetroSheepProductionsMSP]

Great Cab View! Glad you were able to get the full cab view on the first day! 🎉

[@AmbientWalking]

Oh! What an amazing way of seeing the world! Thanks for this new experience!

[@ShadeJay]

Commenting from NY, the new underground stations look amazing and i would say better than our new stations including the 7 train extension, new second av subway and even the newly completed Grand Central Madison

[@montyb10009]

LOL! No they don't.

[@alexanderbanos8125]

1:19:56 There's a Siemens P2000 train on the A Line, however not in revenue service possibly, due to "rehab" testing. It would really be great if there were some P2000's rolling underneath the Regional Connector tunnel in revenue service. Hopefully someone shot a video or a photo of a P2000 being "rehab" tested underneath the RC tunnel.

[@brianmcneil1194]

This must be a relatively new line, because I've never seen rails and tiles so shiny.

[@alexanderbanos8125]

53:28 LA Metro still hasn't updated the approaching Pico station sign after the Regional Connector opened to the public. It looks outdated with its original solid blue dot and original aqua blue "E" dot since 2012 when it was installed. It needs to be updated with its new blue "A" and gold "E" dots already.

[@captainkeyboard1007]

I hope the tunnel and station walls will stay nice and pristine on the subway portion of the line. They need no scribbling of enamel paint nor ink. This A-Line has lots of station stops. This show persuaded me to appreciate light rail transportation as I do rapid transit railroad.

[@JosephSato-1997]

Thank you for the front row view of the ride, great video 👍!

[@karoslif9818]

Best video yet, thank you for giving us the complete ride.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@TexasRailfan21-RailfanRyan]

31:11 by far one of the most famous locations on the line to Pasadena is the trestle spanning the San Bernardino Freeway, and the Arroyo Seco river built in 1896 and still used to this day in days gone by all of Santa Fe’s passenger trains crossed this bridge in route to San Bernardino and points East via Pasadena after passenger service ended Santa Fe’s began a slow process of closing. The Pasadena subdivision by the 1990s Santa Fe’s truss bridge spanning the LA River was removed in the 1990s and the line was handed over to MTA for the blue line and gold line light rail systems.

[@metrorailinlosangelesprodu4407]

I’m posting mine soon . Good Video 🎉

[@Lucrativecris]

Would’ve been better if the Nippon sharyos got to go to Azusa

[@TheLewistownTrainspotter8102]

Actually your description is slightly inaccurate. It's the longest light rail line in the world, having managed to outdo the Belgian Coast Tram.

[@Thomasmuller2309]

Will you do a full length cab ride POV of the E line too?

[@flattrain5834]

Hopefully

[@lacountytransitrailfan]

I’m sad that I didn’t get to see the grand opening of the regional connector but I’ll be returning to film Metro in August

[@Dalegribbleexperience]

It's great to see this before I ride this the day after it opens.

[@theghostofmrcow1985]

Heck yeah. That's more like it. Thanks for sharing bro. 😊😊

[@dianedestefano2976]

Great video, Nick!

[@losangelesrailway3505]

Spectacular video! Hope you make more videos like this in the future!

[@MFPTransitVideos]

Great cab ride! You accomplished something I didn’t have the time to do lol.

[@jermaineallen1297]

This is so cool I have to go check this out on my next off day

[@HarborSubHughley]

Sweet video Nick

[@RoboCoonie]

I ride these trains all day long, but it's still fun to see it from the cab view and not the side windows. "Are you doing a project?" Why does anyone have to be doing anything? Can't people just be interested in things without it having to be about school or work? I hate how the older generation got all the fun programmed out of them into some archaic "act your age" thing.

[@lalitogonzalez2522]

APU / Citurs College 0:01 Azusa Downtown 1:16 Iwrindale 3:36 Duarte / City Of Hope 6:26 Monrovia 9:24 Arcadia 11:43 Sierra Madre Villa 15:53 Allen 18:52 Lake 20:37 Memorial Park 22:39 Del Mar 24:07 Filmore 25:38 South Pasedena Highland Park 31:58 Southwest Muesum 35:56 Heritage Sq 37:47 Lincoln / Cypress 39:06 Chinatown 41:32 Union Station 43:37 Little Tokyo / Arts District 47:00 Historic Brodway 48:30 Grand Av / Arts Bunker Hill 49:48 7th St Metro Center Pico 53:31 Grand / LATTC 57:38 San Pedro St 1:00:08 Washington 1:03:36 Vernon 1:05:59 Slauson 1:08:00 Florence 1:09:43 Firestone 1:11:20 103rd / Watts Towers 1:13:16 Willowbrooks / Rosa Parks 1:15:23 Compton 1:18:51 Artesia 1:21:59 Del Amo 1:26:29 Wardlow 1:30:18 Willow St 1:32:13 Pacific Coast Hwy 1:35:47 Anaheim St 1:37:26 5th St 1:39:43 1st St 1:41:23 Downtown Long Beach 1:42:58 Pacific Av 1:57:10

[@Mikey28488]

Amazing🔥🔥

[@QuarioQuario54321]

The cuts make the trip look shorter than it is in reality

[@wurtele5]

Great video. Stay in touch with your Metro friends at Division 11. I know you are waiting for a modernize P2000 on the A-line.

[@flattrain5834]

I won’t!

[@kenswireart88]

Honestly metro needs a train going towards the burbank, glendale and san fernando valley area. They keep adding newer trains going to areas that already have trains..not saying this isn't a good idea but I'd rather new sets of trains going to areas that have 0 trains than cutting the commute between areas that already have trains.

[@albertasafu-adjaye4254]

@Flat Train didn't we meet and talked in the train earlier? That was me wearing the Adidas shirt standing at Historic Broadway, and I got off at Grand Av/Bunker Hill! Nice meeting you btw! 😁

[@Matz32]

Intersting and long line :D

[@coolboss999]

This is so SLOW. Hopefully in the future they can upgrade the tracks and trains to go faster. 💀

[@reynoldhunter8600]

Ok from Azusa to Downtown Long Beach

[@jamesvanscoyoc6064]

At 42:05 what is the "Stop The Gondola" sign all about? Where would this gondola line be?

[@phillipknowles6671]

It's about the Aerial Rapid Transit plan to link Union Station to Dodger Staduim with a gondola system.

[@Lucrativecris]

About time!

[@lambdamoses6837]

The cab view is so different from that from the side windows. Just from the sound, I can already smell that iconic LA Metro stench of pee mixed with cleaning products because there're often homeless people on the trains. Also kind of wish that there're express vs. local trains just like NYC subway. From my ride from Pasadena to Long Beach and from your video, I find that the operator only sounds the low Quaker horn twice at grade crossings before reaching the exclusive right of way in South LA, where the operator sounds the high horn in the iconic long-long-short-long pattern, which stops in Long Beach where the train also has to stop at traffic lights. Makes sense not to do that iconic horn signal if the train also has to stop at traffic lights. So Pasadena, South Pas, and Highland Park are quiet zones, right? But I didn't see signs saying so by the track. Probably the operator has to remember that beforehand, right? Also Pasadena, South Pas, and Highland Park have four quadrant gates, which South LA does not. Now it seems like transit can be part of environmental racism since it's not fun to hear the horn of over 200 A Line trains a day (say 6 trains per hour for 20 hours from 4 am to 12 am so 120 trains per direction) in addition to the freight trains through South LA and there were several times the A Line train hit cars in South LA, probably because it's easier to drive around the gate. Plus there's grade separation in much of Pasadena (though there were 2 crashes at California Blvd grade crossing) and in the South Bay when the C line isn't in the middle of a freeway. E line in South LA and West Adams have grade crossings, sometimes without gates. Not sure if it's statistically significant, but it seems to me that there're more grade crossings in less privileged areas.

[@Yevgeshik]

Thanks for this video! Can You make this line in opposite direction, please?

[@briskymfs]

It would be nice if metro also had express lines also

[@Dispatcheverystation]

11:42 What is woman doing?

[@albertcarello619]

There seems to be crossings that have a no train horn ordinance as we near Long Beach CA.

[@flattrain5834]

The entire half between Union and Monrovia are quiet zones , and spring and wardlow are also quiet zones

[@stencil_ized]

Quick turnaround!

[@LARailProductions]

Well done my son

[@jacobisworld9516]

46:10 Subway Time.

[@Sillykittycat951]

So which train is this one?

[@jammes122]

I wish there was signal priority on the Flower Street section. They should’ve made the A/E line split a flying junction, as that is the worst bottleneck in the system.

[@joecarter3614]

At 3:48 Dude Vanish???

[@flattrain5834]

Skinwalker confirmed 🤯

[@lametrorailfan]

Was this the P2550 train cab view or the P3010 cab view?

[@flattrain5834]

2550

[@K0BW3E]

my mom worked at a parking structure in duarte

[@HGM19922]

25:38 Doggie!!!!

[@electro_sykes]

it goes slow though

[@manilowmaniak]

I call it the Last Resort Line. L.A. blew it big time with most of the train lines they built. They think it is better to have some kind of train service instead of quality train service. This entire line should have been built above ground or underground but that cost more so they chose to give us an inferior product. Oh well. This sure ain't NYC.

[@cjs83172]

I believe light rail trains are limited to a 25 MPH speed limit when they're in the city streets, which is a reason why they seem slow while traveling in the city,. I know it was always that way in San Diego with the lines there (up C Street and Park Blvd., as well as a bit east of that on the SD Trolley's Orange Line, where the city streets extend eastward a bit), but once they're away from the city streets, they can go up to 45-50 MPH. In fact, it takes the A Line in Los Angeles about as much time to get between the Willow St. Station in Long Beach and the Washington Blvd. station in Los Angeles as it does the city streets portions between Willow St. and the Long Beach Loop and between the Washington Blvd. and 7th Street Metro Center Stations in downtown Los Angeles for that reason.

[@manilowmaniak]

@@cjs83172 Of course they would be limited but you are looking at only the small picture. If they were going to begin train service it needed to be either above or below ground. Not at street level which has not only the limitations you mentioned but it also brings vehicular traffic to a stop which is counterproductive.

[@cjs83172]

@@manilowmaniak Especially in a city with the size and infrastructure that Los Angeles has. That's likely one of the reasons why there are so many elevated stations along both the A Line (formerly the Blue Line) and the E Line (formerly the Expo Line). I also think using freeway medians to have rail travel, and even rail stations, like on the I-105 and I-210 corridors, is a pretty ingenious idea. The problem regarding having light rail lines on city streets (and I've seen how that gummed up streets in downtown San Diego when I was there) is also a potential reason for them not having built a commuter or hybrid rail line linking Irvine to at least Santa Monica, if not the San Fernando Valley via the coastal cities of Orange and Los Angeles counties, which could serve both LAX and John Wayne Airports, as well as coastal cities such as Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, and El Segundo. Should such a line ever be built, such questions about whether to use viaducts or tunneling would certainly have to be dealt with in Long Beach should there be any more rail projects there, especially near the downtown area, because Long Beach has the population of Miami.

[@Geotpf]

@@cjs83172 It is highly unlikely that any rapid transit line will be built between both Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The OC has no interest in paying for such. They barely managed to pay for the small streetcar line they are building.

[@joegermains]

no way they made the tram from gta v in real life

[@Mikey28488]

At 1:05:35 it sounded like the p2020

[@lacountytransitrailfan]

I feel like one of the P2550 has a P2020 horn

[@flattrain5834]

Do you know which car?

[@lacountytransitrailfan]

@@flattrain5834 no

[@MoritzVelten]

Which city is this?

[@flattrain5834]

Los Angeles

[@MattDaGamer21]

are these auto or manual?

[@danielkelly2210]

They're not automated. Each train has a driver.

[@MattDaGamer21]

@@danielkelly2210 Oh okay.

[@DraconiteDragonOfficial]

18:35 Metro Used My Name On A Station💀💀💀

[@flattrain5834]

🤯

[@DraconiteDragonOfficial]

@@flattrain5834 Yeah It's True Dawg

[@3506Dodge]

Why all these stations in the middle of nowhere? Who wants to take a train to an area of highways and warehouses?

[@flattrain5834]

Stations like Vernon and Washington are actually pretty busy during rush hour

[@theghostofmrcow1985]

​@@flattrain5834I agree. Even Azusa downtown station has been more busy since the regional connector was born.

[@areguapiri]

Most of L.A. is highways and warehouses. It's an ugly city.

[@CatsRuleMeow123]

53:38

[@dave_dynasty]

20:59 you snooze, you lose

[@flattrain5834]

She lost

[@allanegleston4931]

that's the 210 , no?

[@rogedog92]

Yes that was the 210.

[@trainrover]

awful lot of rust for a basin reputed to be arid as fuck...

[@alberthong5374]

This light rail becomes the home of the homeless.

[@flattrain5834]

To an extent

[@albertcarello619]

@albertthong5734: Transportation systems in every country are also the home of the homeless especially in Japan and France.

[@manilowmaniak]

Like anyone is going to spend that long on a train to go 36 miles. This is L.A. at its worst and they spent over 1 billion to make a less than perfect example of public transportation.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

You know it makes intermediate stops, right?

[@manilowmaniak]

@@OntarioTrafficMan Of course. It is a train, not a plane😂. I have been taking the Gold Line daily since it opened for the past 23 years.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

@@manilowmaniak So then you must understand that people can use the train to travel less than 36 miles

[@manilowmaniak]

@@OntarioTrafficMan Of course they can. That's not my point. The media was promoting it as a way to take one train from Azusa to Long Beach but no one would ever submit themselves to a 2 hour train ride to go that short of a distance. Even this video promotes it as the longest light rail train line. It is only long if you make it that long😂.

[@TremblingQualifier]

unlikely someone will take it the whole length, but you can certainly take it from a far distance like union station to LB which people do. also a lot of the issues with public transit have more to do with density / urban planning / car culture.

[@MultiAnimelover45]

Finally after all these years… 🎊 🎉 GO L.A Metro Rail 🚋 🚋 🚋

[@manilowmaniak]

What do you mean after all these years? The former Blue Line has been in existence for 33 years and the former Gold Line for 23 years.