Proposed Santa Ana Branch Light Rail Would Connect Downtown Los Angeles and Artesia

Piggybacking off of earlier work by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is exploring new alignments for a proposed light rail line which would shuttle passengers between Downtown Los Angeles and Artesia.

The West Santa Ana Branch (WSAB), one of 12 projects funded by the Measure R half-cent sales tax, has a scheduled revenue operation date of 2027. The prior alternatives analysis conducted by SCAG explored numerous transportation modes for the 34-mile corridor, ranging from the practical-but-unexciting (bus rapid transit) to the overly-expensive-and-unrealistic (low-speed maglev). Citing the long distance and high potential ridership along the WSAB, SCAG recommended light rail as the preferred mode and proposed two potential routes, both of which rougly paralleled the Los Angeles River.

Metro, after receiving feedback from stakeholder cities and organizations, has expanded upon those options with four additional alignments.