Los Angeles light rail: A fast track to new cars - Transit Update - Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority asks for bids on 50 new light rail vehicles - Brief Article

Railway Age, March, 2002

With traffic burgeoning on the Blue and Green Lines and higher ridership estimates now established for the new Gold Line, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has issued an invitation to bid on an order of 50 new light rail vehicles, designated the P2550, plus two options for 33 more cars.

LACMTA's 52 Siemens LRVs now being delivered and the existing fleet of 69 Nippon Sharyo cars will be insufficient. Originally, 74 Siemens cars were to be acquired for the Green and Gold Lines but the order was cut back because of financial constraints during the late 1990s.

According to LACMTA Deputy Executive Officer-Procurement Bruce Feerer, the agency is looking for an off-the-shelf product that can be built and delivered quickly. The schedule for the P2550s calls for bids to be received by early June from manufacturers whose designs have been technically accepted, with board approval of the contract at the end of August. The agency is asking that the first unit be delivered within 24 months, and wants the final car to arrive 24 months later. Feerer said the requirements tend more toward a performance specification, but lowest price will determine the winner.

The P2550s will be articulated and similar in size and weight to LACMATA's existing equipment, but must have streamlined end caps of the builder's own design. They will not be required to operate in trains with existing LRVs, and will be assigned to the 13.7-mile first phase of the Gold Line, which opens in July 2003 between downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena. More P2550s will be needed when the Gold Line is extended into East Los Angeles. Preliminary engineering and an environmental impact study have now been completed on the 5.9-mile Eastside route. Construction could begin in mid-2003 with completion in 2007. Under LACMTA's current scenario, the 33 optional cars would be assigned to the first phase of the future Exposition Line (eight cars) and to an eastern extension of the Gold Line from Pasadena to Claremont (25 cars), both of which would probably be built after the East L.A. segment is completed.

Meanwhile, the California Public Utilities Commission voted 3-2 to stop construction of the Gold Line at 21 disputed intersections. The PUC, which has jurisdiction over surface rail systems, is studying grade crossing safety to determine whether separations are needed. In November, Commissioner Richard P. Bilas ruled that track work could continue at the crossings until a final decision was made, and the Metro Construction Authority, the agency charged with completing the line, gambled it would win approval and continued work. But the PUC overturned Bilas's decision. The disputed crossings are located along a five-mile stretch in the Mt. Washington and Highland Park neighborhoods of Los Angeles and in South Pasadena and Pasadena. The remainder of the 13.7-mile line is unaffected. With the PUC having overturned Bilas' interim decision, work has stopped. Construction Authority CEO Rick Thorpe said unless there is a final decision by early March, costs will start increasing, threatening an already delicately balanced $732 million budget. PUC President Loretta Lynch authored another motion, which passed, allowing the LRT tracks to cross 40 non-disputed intersections, but said it was wrong for Bilas to give the Authority a green light before the PUC could evaluate all of the safety and environmental questions.

The controversy began when a group opposed to LRT petitioned the PUC, claiming trains would disrupt traffic, block emergency vehicles, and endanger pedestrians.