Proposal Would Cut Red Car Line

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Likely Gone for Good if POLA Approves

A proposed park will take away the right of way of the rail used for the Waterfront Red Car line — and while this is not done intentionally to displace it, the Port of Los Angeles has no plans to ever bring the Red Car line back, said Mike Galvin, director of the port’s waterfront and commercial real estate.

The park is part of the One San Pedro project by the Housing Authority of Los Angeles, or HACLA, which will redevelop the Rancho San Pedro public housing. This includes the replacement of 425 units and the creation of 975 new ones. While the housing itself will not be on port land, the park next to it will — and its creation will require the removal of the tracks from the rail between 1st and 3rd streets, as well as the surrounding fencing. It will be an expansion of sorts of the Promenade. Galvin said this will provide better connectivity between Rancho San Pedro and the Los Angeles waterfront.

“Right now there’s not really a seamless way to get from one to the other,” Galvin said.

Galvin said the park is not being put there specifically to eliminate the right of way.

“The port has actually [a] dedicated right of way at that location, as well as through the new West Harbor development, and going down all the way to Berth 46 in the outer harbor,” Galvin said. “That’s really something that we’ve done as part of a long-term planning process to provide for future opportunities for port connectivity, whether it be through light rails or through some other type of mode, which could be a rubber tire trolley system.”

The Red Car line ran from 2003 to 2015 as an attraction in San Pedro, but there were plans to expand it to transportation to other parts of Los Angeles. It was closed down as the San Pedro waterfront was developed, so that the port would have a better idea of how people would move around said waterfront.

“We wanted to take a pause, and allow some of that development to occur, and then to see what the most efficient way would be to move people around the waterfront,” Galvin said.

Even if the park is built, Galvin says the port is maintaining the right of way.

“The project is only required to be in place for 10 years,” Galvin said. “So it is not in any way creating a permanent obstacle to future use of rail in that area or future use of some other mode.”

Galvin said the portion of the right of way that the park will upend is like other portions of the right of way, which are being used for other things. Those purposes include street improvements and parking lot improvements that are being built south of 6th Street.

The Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council and the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council both officially opposed the construction of the Rancho San Pedro park, because of how it would affect the right of way. The Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council took no formal action against it. However, they did oppose the removal of Red Car tracks in November 2017,  Coastal President Doug Epperhart said.

“We wanted to preserve the infrastructure for the possibility that the Red Car would come back,” Epperhart said.

The tracks previously used for the Red Car south of 6th Street have already been removed, Galvin said.

“All of that rail has been removed because the likeliness that we will build a rail system that is similar to the Red Car is very low because it’s extremely expensive,” Galvin said.

A likely alternative would be a light rail system, which does need as much security as the Red Car needed. The Red Car needed fencing and a crossing guard system because of its weight, as well as a raised platform. A light rail is much lighter, as its name suggests, and does not need them.

“It creates a much more open access type of a feel where people can get on and get off,” Galvin said.

If the port were to build a light rail system, it would have to be built from the ground up, as the rail tracks used for the Red Car are not adaptable to light rails.

“The systems are not interchangeable,” Galvin said. “None of that’s been built yet, and the investment in that would be very significant going forward, and it wouldn’t be made until we have a much better idea of how people will move around the waterfront.”

While there were plans at one point to expand the Red Car line to take riders to other parts of Los Angeles, any light rail made by the port would not go that far.

“The Red Car, in the early days, there was much discussion about actually using it as a real transportation system connecting it to other places, extending it out to Cabrillo Beach, stuff like that,” Epperhart said. “That slowly disappeared over the years.”

Epperhart said the port does not have any interest in maintaining that kind of infrastructure, partially because of the cost.

“That plus the fact that, you know, the port is not interested in being in the people moving business,” Epperhart said.

Epperhart said that building and operating rail lines is so expensive, the port would probably never see a return on its investment.

Another possible alternative would be a rubber tire system, which does not use tracks, so it could use the street, or its own dedicated right of way.

The local business improvement district is currently using rubber tire trolleys, and they recently acquired more, Galvin said.

“That is an existing program that we are pulling data out of, to understand where the most people are getting on and off, where people are going to and from, so we can better understand how to build out future modalities of connectivity that are other than people walking around the waterfront,” Galvin said.

Epperhart said the light rail is probably not necessary yet.

“I don’t think we’re going to have any real … need for it for a while, until we get the cruise terminal down at the other end of town, until we get the amphitheater and some other things,” Epperhart said.  

The Rancho San Pedro park has not yet been approved by the port. HACLA is still going through public input, so the project will come before the Board of Harbor Commissioners in two months at the earliest.

There is another proposed park that if approved, will be built on port property. It will be built by the Battleship USS Iowa Museum, and will be next to it. However, this park requires funding from the state of California, and the Iowa is in the process of applying for a grant for it.

This park will be close to the Rancho San Pedro park, but neither are big.

“These parks are not large parks by any means,” Galvin said. “So, I don’t think it’s unnatural within a waterfront area that we have, which is 400 acres of waterfront property along with about 8 miles of coastline, that she would have small open space areas as amenities.”

In addition, the Iowa might move to a different location within the next few years, and if it does, the park might be built at the new location.

Frank Anderson, chair of the Port Relations Committee of the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, said he was disappointed to hear that the port does not plan to bring the Red Car back. He argued that the port would need connectivity to other parts of the city in some way, perhaps through Metro lines.

“I personally would love to see the Red Car come back,” Anderson said. “I’m willing to fight for it and I think there are others that feel the same way.”

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