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Metro is proposing a handful of upgrades for its existing Division 20 rail yard in the Arts District area that would help the post-expansion Purple Line stay on time. It would also make some changes to the neighborhood in the process, says Urbanize LA.
The 45-acre rail yard is roughly bounded by the Los Angeles River, Santa Fe Avenue, Ducommun Street, and Sixth Street Viaduct. The proposed changes would expand the yards a bit, requiring the demolition of more than 300,000 square feet of buildings, according to Metro.
Structures at 815 East Temple Street, 234 Center Street, 210 Center Street, 1001 East 1st Street, and 214 South Santa Fe Avenue would be razed, and the project “would vacate Jackson Street, Banning Street, and Ducommun Street in their segments east of Center Street,” says a Metro notice for the project.
Metro would use the existing and added space to rejigger the tracks already on-site for both Red and Purple Line trains. The agency would also widen the existing portal that links the yard to the subway lines.
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The goals of the project are to keep up with the expected increase in demand once the Purple Line’s extension all the way to Westwood comes online, as well as “provide faster and more reliable service times at Union Station.”
The project’s being partially funded by a grant that Metro won in August 2016, and “all new elements are being designed to support four-minute peak service on the Metro Purple line,” Metro spokesperson Dave Sotero tells Curbed.
The Purple Line’s expansion is well underway, with the first segment from Wilshire/Western to Wilshire/La Cienega under construction now.
Unfortunately, this project doesn’t really have a connection to the possible future Arts District Metro stop. The Source explained earlier this week that this turnaround facility project “is planned to be designed and built in such a way as not to preclude a future Arts District subway station,” which doesn’t yet have the approval of the Metro Board or funding, but it’s looking likely that one will get built.