Recent travelers to Los Angeles International Airport are used to seeing an elevated railway connecting the terminals, but next week they will be greeted with a new and exciting sight — actual trains moving along the tracks.
The airport’s long-awaited Automated People Mover system will begin running without passengers Monday, according to airport executive Jake Adams, who is overseeing a $5.5-billion initiative to improve access at LAX.
Over a roughly 60-day testing period, empty trains will run on the same schedule that the airport intends to use once the system opens to the public. The 2.25-mile electric train system is designed to help reduce airport congestion by connecting terminals, parking lots and passenger pickup and drop-off areas — ferrying riders over the airport’s notorious horseshoe loop.
“It’s really exciting, because not only is it a big milestone for the project, but it’s going to be a really visible milestone for all of our guests,” Adams said of the testing. “They’re going to get to see tons of trains running up and down the guideway all over the LAX campus.”
Before passengers are put on the trains, the system must run 24/7 for 30 days “without any hiccups,” he said. Hiccups could entail something as big as a train breakdown or as small as a platform door not opening.
There was a “very minor incident” on Monday where one slowly moving train bumped into another inside a maintenance and storage facility, Adams said.
“There was no injuries, no damage, no impact to testing, so it’s just one of those things that we’ll do a root cause analysis on to make sure we learn from it, so that it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
Once reliability testing is done, there will be another round of tests to ensure trains are integrated with fixed facilities such as elevators and stations, he said. Then, volunteers will be put on trains and provide feedback on navigating the system.
At this time, Adams is hesitant to speculate on a possible public opening date.
Construction began on the Automated People Mover in 2019, with an initial target opening date in 2023. But the system has faced a series of setbacks and delays.
In September, Los Angeles World Airports Chief Executive John Ackerman expressed hope that the system would be ready in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But with that sporting event less than two months away, and extensive testing still to be done, it’s clear the goal posts will once again be moved.
Adams said he is not concerned about how the delayed opening of the train system will affect World Cup congestion.
“The World Cup, for us, is just kind of a blip on the radar, because at LAX our peak summer travel demand is so much greater than the traffic that we’re anticipating for the World Cup,” he said. “Even with that, we really don’t expect any travel delays.”
Part of the delay in opening the Automated People Mover has been a series of ongoing disputes between Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that manages LAX; and the contractor in charge of building the train system, LAX Integrated Express Solutions, or LINXS. Disputes between LINXS and LAWA had already cost hundreds of millions of dollars in claims settlements as of September.
In December, LINXS filed a government claim related to work performed on an electrical maintenance system, Adams confirmed. A claim is a necessary precursor to filing a lawsuit against a public agency. A spokesperson for LINXS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of the dispute Wednesday.
According to documents obtained by LAist, LINXS’s recent government claim pertains to some $36 million worth of repair work it completed on an electrical maintenance system that it alleges is not within its scope of work. That work required power to be shutdown between February and July last year, which delayed testing of technology related to the Automated People Mover, according to LAist.
Adams expressed hopes that any potential litigation and other ongoing disputes can be resolved without further lengthening the project timeline.
“We have multiple disputes with LINXS right now,” he said. “I’m confident we’ll be able to work through these things and bring this train to the airport and to everybody that’s been waiting for it for such a long time.”
Times staff writer Colleen Shalby contributed to this report.
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