Culver City welcomes Expo Line light rail to the Westside
The Culver City and Farmdale stations opened Wednesday, June 20, 2012.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa poses for the ribbon-cutting to open the Culver City station. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Transportation officials opened the Culver City station of the Expo light rail line Wednesday, beginning with a symbolic downtown-meets-the-Westside handshake between the mayors of Los Angeles and Culver City.
The station marks the furthest rail has reached into the Westside in more than 50 years, and officials celebrated with balloons, a barbershop quartet and other festivities.
“We look forward to the station serving thousands of passengers in the years to come,” said Culver City Mayor Andy Weissman.
Officials opened most of the first phase of the line in April, allowing commuters to travel 7.9 miles between downtown Los Angeles and the eastern edge of Culver City in about half an hour.
But they did not open two stations — Culver City and Farmdale — because workers needed more time to finish.
The Farmdale Avenue stop, which is adjacent to Dorsey High School, also will open Wednesday. The extension to Culver City is about 0.7 miles from the previous terminus at La Cienega and Jefferson boulevards.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/culver-city-expo-line-light-rail-westside.html
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May 23, 2012
Federal ruling backs Japan contractor on MTA light-rail cars
Dan Weikel
The Los Angeles Times
Resolving a key issue in a $890-million transit contract, federal officials announced Wednesday that a Japanese firm’s plan to build up to 235 cars for Los Angeles-area light-rail lines complies with requirements that American workers be used for final assembly.
In its decision, the Federal Transit Administration rejected assertions by local labor organizations, community activists and two competing companies that Kinkisharyo International’s production plan would violate Buy America requirements by climate-testing a few rail cars in Japan and not the United States.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority awarded the contract on April 30 to Kinkisharyo and rejected bids from Siemens Industry Inc. and CAF USA Inc. Both have filed protests alleging irregularities in the procurement process.
The new light-rail vehicles will be needed for a variety of projects, including the Crenshaw Line, the Expo Line to Santa Monica and extensions of the Gold Line. The contract also will allow Metro to replace 69 aging cars on the Los Angeles-to-Long Beach Blue Line, which suffered significant delays this year partly due to deferred maintenance.
Labor unions and civic organizations, including the Urban League and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference-Los Angeles, opposed the Kinkisharyo bid, saying the federal and local tax revenue that will pay for the rail cars should be used to create jobs in California, not Japan.
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Video: Official dedication ceremony with Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Antonio Villaraigosa joining other elected officials along with Metro and Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority executives and community leaders
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June 21, 2012
Audio: Lawsuits Threaten Light Rail In Los Angeles
by Alex Schmidt
All Things Considered
NPR
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=155524657&m=155528775
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Video: No Subway under Beverly Hills High School
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Metro Rail Service
Metro Blue Line
Metro Red Line
Metro Green Line
Metro Gold Line
Metro Purple Line
Metro Expo Line
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Video: Metro Rail: Introduction to metro rail for Los Angeles 1985
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Video: First Metro Rail Blue LIne Cars Delivered – 1989
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Video: Metro Blue Line Grand Opening – 1990
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Video: Los Angeles Metro Red Line subway
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Video: Los Angeles metro Red Line first subway tunnel breakthrough – 1989
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Video: Building Los Angeles Metro Red Line- 1991
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Video: Los Angeles Metrolink commuter rail
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Video: Los Angeles Metro Rail- Gold Line
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Dilemma X 
June 23, 2012
Did you know?, World culture/events