The A Line (formerly and colloquially the Blue Line) is a light rail line in Los Angeles County, California. Part of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system and operated by Los Angeles Metro, it is the world's longest modern light rail line at . The A Line serves 48 stations, running east–west between Pomona and Pasadena, then north–south between Pasadena and Long Beach. In Downtown Los Angeles it interlines with the E Line, sharing five stations. Service operates about 19 hours daily with headways as short as 8 minutes during peak hours. It is the busiest light rail route in the system, carrying over 22 million riders in 2024 and averaging 69,216 weekday boardings in May 2024.
The A Line's first segment, between the southern edge of Downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach, opened in 1990 as the inaugural line of the Metro Rail system, using much of the Pacific Electric's former Long Beach Line. Plans to extend the line north through Downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena were proposed in the 1980s but delayed due to funding constraints. Instead, the standalone Gold Line (renamed the L Line in 2020) opened in 2003 from Union Station at the northern edge of Downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena, and was extended east to Azusa in 2016. The original plan was realized with the completion of the Regional Connector tunnel across Downtown Los Angeles in 2023, which linked the A Line to the former L Line. The line was extended further east to Pomona in 2025.
Service description
Route description The A Line runs between Pomona and Downtown Long Beach, serving 48 stations.
The line's northern terminus is at Pomona North station in Pomona, shared with the Metrolink San Bernardino Line. The line briefly runs northwest, entering La Verne before stopping at La Verne/Fairplex station, located adjacent to the campus of University of La Verne. The line continues northwest, entering San Dimas before stopping at San Dimas station at San Dimas Avenue. The line continues northwest, entering Glendora and crossing underneath the SR 57 and I-210 freeways, curving through the city, before stopping at Glendora station at Vermont Avenue. The line continues northwest, curving west and entering Azusa before stopping at APU/Citrus College station just west of Citrus Avenue and north of the two universities. The line runs west through Azusa before stopping at Azusa Downtown station at Azusa Avenue, north of Foothill Boulevard. Continuing west, the line crosses over the I-210 freeway and runs parallel to it, entering Irwindale before stopping at Irwindale station at Irwindale Avenue. After this station, the line continues west, crossing over the San Gabriel River and underneath the I-605 freeway, diverging from I-210 and entering Duarte, before stopping at Duarte/City of Hope station located on the north side of Duarte Road, across from the City of Hope National Medical Center.
Continuing west, the line parallels Duarte Road, entering Monrovia, before diverging northwest just before arriving at Monrovia station. Entering Arcadia, the line crosses all street crossings on bridges except for First Avenue at the at-grade Arcadia station. Continuing west, the line reconverges with and enters the median of I-210 and continues west to Sierra Madre Villa station in Pasadena. Six stations serve different parts of Pasadena, with three of them in the freeway's median. In Old Pasadena, the line travels underground for almost half a mile, passing under Pasadena's main thoroughfare, Colorado Boulevard, which makes the Memorial Park station below grade. The station serves most of Pasadena's fine dining, shops, malls, and civic center. The line continues south through downtown Pasadena and South Pasadena, primarily at grade. North of Highland Park, the line crosses over the Arroyo Seco Parkway (State Route 110) via the Santa Fe Arroyo Seco Railroad Bridge towards Highland Park.
After Highland Park station, the line runs in the median of Marmion Way, where trains go at only . After Avenue 50, the line runs primarily at grade in its own right of way, except for a short tunnel underneath the intersection of Figueroa Street and Pasadena Avenue. From here, the line continues, with a handful of stations serving the hillside areas north of downtown, including Lincoln Heights, Mount Washington, and the Southwest Museum of the American Indian. Northeast of Chinatown, the line crosses over the Los Angeles River on an elevated viaduct. Continuing on the elevated viaduct, the line stops at Chinatown station before arriving at Union Station. At Union Station, passengers can transfer to the B and D rapid transit lines, Metrolink commuter rail, Amtrak, and buses. The entire section of the line north of Union Station follows the current and former right of way of the Pasadena Subdivision, which was originally built by the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad between 1883 and 1887.
South of Union Station, trains use the Regional Connector through Downtown Los Angeles. In Little Tokyo, the line enters the new tunnel north of Temple Street to serve the replacement underground Little Tokyo/Arts District station, where the line merges with the E Line. The two lines turn west to run under 2nd Street and the 2nd Street Tunnel, as well as the B and D lines, with clearances as low as . The Regional Connector tunnel connects to the north end of 7th Street/Metro Center station, the former northern terminal of the A Line. The line continues south along Flower Street, transitioning from underground to street level at 11th St. Passengers can connect to the bus rapid transit J Line at 7th Street/Metro Center, Pico, and Grand/LATTC stations.
The A and E Lines diverge at Flower Street and Washington Boulevard. E Line trains continue south along Flower Street, and the A Line turns east onto Washington Boulevard before turning south into the former Pacific Electric right of way at Long Beach Avenue. This historic rail corridor has four tracks, two for A Line trains and two for Union Pacific freight trains. Along the corridor, there are some flyovers to either eliminate grade crossings in more densely populated areas or pass over diverging freight tracks. Passengers can connect with the C Line at the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks station. Just south of Willow Street station, A Line trains exit the rail corridor and begin street running in the median of Long Beach Boulevard into the city of Long Beach, where trains travel through the Long Beach Transit Mall while making a loop using 1st Street, Pacific Avenue, and 8th Street.
Hours and frequency
Time4a5a6a7a8a–1p2–6p7p8p–12aWeekdays20810810–1220Weekends/Holidays201010–1220
Speed The full travel time of the line is about 2 hours and 12 minutes, including a brief layover at Union Station for a crew change. The line's scheduled average speed is , with maximum speeds ranging from under at surface level in Downtown Los Angeles to on dedicated corridors.
Station listing The following table lists the stations of the A Line, from north to south: Station Date Opened City/Neighborhood Major connections and notes GradeSeptember 19, 2025PomonaPark and ride: 530 spaces At-gradeLa VernePark and ride: 262 spacesSan DimasPark and ride: 280 spacesGlendoraPark and ride: 298 spacesMarch 5, 2016AzusaPark and ride: 206 spacesPark and ride: 534 spacesIrwindalePark and ride: 350 spacesDuartePark and ride: 125 spacesMonroviaPark and ride: 350 spacesArcadiaPark and ride: 302 spacesJuly 26, 2003PasadenaPark and ride: 1,017 spacesElevatedPark and ride: 22 spacesBelow-grade Future connection to the North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit ProjectPark and ride: 610 spacesAt-gradePark and ride: 155 spacesSouth PasadenaPark and ride: 142 spacesLos Angeles (Highland Park)Los Angeles (Mount Washington)Los Angeles (Montecito Heights)Park and ride: 129 spacesLos Angeles (Lincoln Heights/Cypress Park)Park and ride: 94 spacesElevatedLos Angeles (Chinatown)Los Angeles (Downtown)Amtrak, LAX FlyAway and MetrolinkPaid parking: 2,189 spacesAt-gradeNovember 15, 2009Los Angeles (Little Tokyo/Arts District)UndergroundJune 16, 2023Los Angeles (Downtown)February 15, 1991July 14, 1990At-gradeLos Angeles (South Los Angeles) Future connection to the Southeast Gateway LineElevatedFlorenceFlorence-GrahamPark and ride: 116 spacesAt-gradeElevatedLos Angeles (Watts) Park and ride: 64 spacesAt-gradeWillowbrookPark and ride: 234 spacesComptonPark and ride: 290 spacesCarsonPark and ride: 362 spacesElevatedLong BeachPark and ride: 139 spacesAt-gradePark and ride: 1,068 spaces ()September 1, 1990 () () ()
Ridership + Annual ridership Year Ridership 2009 — 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Source: Metro
History
Long Beach Line Much of the initial segment of the A Line from Downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach follows the route of the Pacific Electric's Long Beach Line, which ended service in 1961. The old route gave the new light rail trains a private right of way between and stations allowing them to reach higher speeds between stops.
The line initially opened as the Blue Line on Saturday, July 14, 1990, and ran from to . The Long Beach Loop section to opened in September 1990, followed by the tunnel into in February 1991. The initial light rail segment cost US$877 million ($ in adjusted for inflation).
The route reached full capacity after one decade of service, and from 1999 to 2001, the Blue Line underwent a US$11 million project to lengthen 19 of its platforms to accommodate three-car trains. There were also plans since the 1980s to extend the Blue Line north to Pasadena but the connection through downtown was postponed due to funding constraints from the voter-approved 1998 Proposition A. The proposition restricted local county subway funding, halting the process of the Blue Line extension and other rail transit projects from advancing.
The Blue Line was renovated in 2019, with the southern half of the line being closed for the first five months and the northern half closing for the following five months (10 months total). Metro provided a bus shuttle service to compensate for the lack of rail service. Metro officially reopened the line on November 2, 2019, rebranding it as the A Line. The renovation helped improve the line's speed and reliability by replacing and modernizing old tracks, signals, train control systems, and bridges.
Pasadena Blue Line
Much of the A Line's right of way north of through the San Gabriel Valley was built by the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad in 1885. It was eventually taken over by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, as part of the Pasadena Subdivision, which saw Amtrak service until 1994, when construction began on the conversion to light rail. The light rail project was initially called the "Pasadena Metro Blue Line."
Planners envisioned extending the existing Blue Line (A Line) north of 7th Street/Metro Center, but it was canceled due to funding shortages. However, the mostly above-ground segment of the extension from Union Station to Pasadena advanced and began construction in 1994 as a separate line but was suspended again by 1998 due to the Proposition A ban. Later that year, a bill was authorized to create a new independent construction authority to finish the line. The agency, now known as the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority, resumed light rail construction in 2000 and completed the line three years later.
The then-renamed Gold Line, between Union Station and Sierra Madre Villa station in East Pasadena, opened on July 26, 2003.
Foothill Extension Phase 2A