The team proposing to build a monorail mostly in the median of the 405 Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass that would connect San Fernando Valley with the Westside has added a public transportation services company to its group in its effort to be chosen for LA Metro’s mega project.
Los Angeles SkyRail Express (LASRE) announced on April 6 that Keolis in North America has joined the project, with existing equity partners John Laing and BYD (Build Your Dreams), a train manufacturing company. This may complete the L.A. SkyRail Express team, said Michael Hoghooghi, project director for LASRE on April 12.
“In terms of the broader team, we’ve got all the wheels on the bus. We are good,” Hoghooghi said. “I am very happy with the makeup of the team we’ve got.”
Other team members involved in construction, engineering, finance and technology include Skanska, a construction entity; HDR, a transit design firm; Innova, a company doing structural design for monorail projects in Cairo, Egypt, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Las Vegas; and Gensler, an LA-based architectural firm.
L.A. SkyRail Express was awarded a predevelopment agreement contract worth $63.6 million from LA Metro in August 2021 for developing the monorail concept. It would have an aerial alignment primarily within the 405 right-of-way between the Valley and Westside. Travelers would get from San Fernando Valley to the Westside in 24 minutes. The project is expected to cost about $6.1 billion.
The group estimates a peak line capacity of up to 22,000 passengers per hour, per direction. Monorail vehicles would arrive every two minutes.
More than 400,000 people travel the 405 and its nearby surface streets each weekday and 98% are in cars, Metro has reported.
L.A. SkyRail Express (LASRE) is competing against Sepulveda Transit Corridor Partners, which is made up of Bechtel, Meridiam Infrastructure and American Triple I Partners.
Sepulveda Transit Corridor Partners (STCP) proposes mostly heavy rail with tunneling under the mountains and communities in the San Fernando Valley and Westside. In August 2021, STCP signed a predevelopment agreement with LA Metro for $69.9 million to develop its concept.
More than 60% of STCP’s heavy rail concept would be underground and the remainder would be primarily in an aerial section. It would take travelers less than 20 minutes to get from the Valley to the Westside, according to the proposal. Estimated cost is about $10.8 billion.
“Our team is proud to partner with Metro on this transformational project, and we look forward to bringing energy and creativity to deliver a solution for Metro and the people of Los Angeles,” said Keith Hennessey, president of Bechtel Enterprises, the financing and development group at Bechtel, after the contract signing in 2021.
He added, “A key to this solution will be providing a world-class transit experience that is accessible with easy connections and enhances the community experience.”
Keolis, part of SkyRail, would not be involved with construction but with operation and maintenance, Hoghooghi said. Since original plans were drawn in 2018, the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced transit ridership, which is slowly rebounding in L.A. County. Keolis will focus on this and other ridership trends, he said.
“What we had in 2018 in the design criteria is different now, post pandemic,” he said, adding there are other issues including the homeless on trains, platforms, buses and bus stops.
Keolis has experience running transit lines in Dubai and in Paris, he said. “Those are fully automated lines and are similar to what we are proposing in L.A.,” Hoghooghi said.
Studies released by LA Metro found that 93% of residents want tunneling and just 7% want a monorail. And a survey of 1,032 residents that circulated from July 20 to Aug. 24, 2022 and was released on Dec. 7, 2022, found that 70% preferred or were fine with an underground line, and about 50% preferred or were fine with rail primarily running on elevated tracks above the streets and 405.
Some Bel Air and Sherman Oaks neighborhoods and various homeowner groups support the monorail concept using elevated tracks and have strongly opposed tunneling.
“The Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association (SOHA) is extremely pleased that LA SkyRail Express has added Keolis to its monorail team,” wrote Bob Anderson, vice president of SOHA. “Keolis is a leader in operating and maintaining transportation networks worldwide, and their addition strengthens the LASRE team’s operating and maintenance expertise, which is critical to future operational affordability of the project. “
Metro has held several meetings and is moving ahead to draft environmental documents, which could continue until 2024. On the table are six configurations, with Alternatives 1-3 mostly monorail, and Alternatives 3-6 heavy rail. The six alternatives are:
Alternative 1: (15.3 miles) Monorail with aerial alignment on 405 corridor and electric bus connection to UCLA.
Alternative 2: (15.8 miles) Monorail with aerial alignment on 405 corridor and aerial automated people mover connection to UCLA.
Alternative 3: (16.2 miles) Monorail with aerial alignment on 405 corridor and underground alignment between Getty Center and Wilshire Boulevard. This would allow for an underground station at UCLA.
Alternative 4: (14 miles) Heavy rail with underground alignment south of Ventura Boulevard and aerial alignment generally along Sepulveda Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley, with four aerial stations.
Alternative 5: (14 miles) Heavy rail with underground alignment including along Sepulveda Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.
Alternative 6: (12.6 miles) Heavy rail with underground alignment including along Van Nuys Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley and a southern terminus station on Bundy Drive.
Metro has about $8 billion for the project, mostly from county tax measures. It is seeking federal and state dollars to add to the funding pot. Metro estimates project completion in 2035. However, LASRE officials say they can build a monorail faster than a heavy-rail tunnel project.
Hoghooghi said that during construction, “You can be engaged in multiple segments simultaneously.”
The Bechtel group says its project is significantly more efficient.
According to the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Partners website, “Alternatives 4 & 5 would move passengers end-to-end in 20 minutes because of the direct route they follow as well as through the use of innovative technology that would enable trains to arrive every 2.5 minutes. Trains could arrive as fast as every 90 seconds when needed.”