Los Angeles has officially broken ground on the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project, a nearly $4 billion rail line that will give the Valley its first local-stop commuter rail service in more than 70 years. Mayor Karen Bass, who also chairs the Metro board, joined Valley leaders at the groundbreaking ceremony on Monday to launch construction on the 6.7-mile line along Van Nuys Boulevard.
The project will feature 11 stations serving Van Nuys, Panorama City, Arleta and Pacoima, with direct connections to Metrolink, Amtrak and the Metro G Line busway. According to the mayor's office, nearly 19 percent of residents in the corridor rely on public transit, and the line is expected to create 18,000 jobs during construction. Officials say the route will link transit-dependent neighborhoods to jobs, health care and schools they have lacked for decades.
The light rail line arrives years behind its original schedule and well over its initial budget. Approved in 2018 with a 2021 start date and a $1.3 billion price tag, the project was delayed by what Metro officials describe as a comprehensive environmental review and funding challenges, as Urbanize LA reports. The agency now projects an opening date of 2032.
Funding combines local sales tax revenue from Measures R and M with an $893 million federal grant, according to Metro. The corridor is currently served by just two bus lines that recorded roughly 20,000 boardings in September, underscoring what local officials call a long-overdue investment in one of the city's most transit-dependent areas.
Metro leaders framed the project as an equity milestone for the Valley, with the mayor's office calling it the first light rail train on Van Nuys Boulevard since the Pacific Electric Railway ended service in the 1950s. In the future, the line may connect passengers to a planned heavy rail line through the Sepulveda Pass, further tying the Valley into the region's expanding rail network.