Long Beach Line

Long Beach
A train en route to Long Beach, 1923
Overview
LocaleLos Angeles, and Long Beach
Termini
Stations8
Service
TypeInterurban
Operator(s)Pacific Electric (1902–1958)
LAMTA (1958–1961)
Rolling stockPE 1200 Class (last used)
Ridership1,603,476 (1958)[1]
History
OpenedJuly 4, 1902
ClosedApril 9, 1961
Technical
Line length20.37 mi (32.78 km)
Number of tracks1–4
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
ElectrificationOverhead line600 V DC
Route map

Pacific Electric Building
to Northern Division
 J   R   S 
 J   S 
to
Sierra Vista–Watts &
South Pasadena Local
Amoco
Vernon Avenue
 V 
Slauson Junction
Fleming
Florencita Park
Florence
Nadeau
Graham
Latin
Watts
end of
local service
multiple lines
Willowbrook/Rosa Parks
Springdale
Willowbrook
Sativa
Winona
Compton
Dominguez
Dominguez Junction
Del Amo
Cota
Los Cerritos
Vista del Mar
Willow
Long Beach

The Long Beach Line was a major interurban railway operated by the Pacific Electric Railway between Los Angeles and Long Beach, California via Florence, Watts, and Compton. Service began in 1902 and lasted until 1961, the last line of the system to be replaced by buses.

In addition to the Long Beach service, the line served as a trunk for a number of other interurban lines stretching to Whittier, Yorba Linda, Fullerton, Santa Ana, Balboa, San Pedro, and Redondo Beach. It was four tracks wide north of the junction at Watts, with local service on the outer tracks and long-distance trains bypassing the local stations on the inner tracks.

After the end of Pacific Electric service, Southern Pacific continued to operate freight trains on the tracks, and its successor Union Pacific still does between Amoco and Dominguez Junction. Passenger service to the corridor returned in 1990 with the opening of the Blue Line, a modern light rail service using portions of the former right-of-way. When the Regional Connector subway tunnel was completed in 2023, the Blue Line, renamed as the A Line in 2019, was extended northeast to Azusa, becoming the world's longest light rail route.[2]

  1. ^ "Long Beach Line". Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  2. ^ Morino, Douglas (June 23, 2023). "L.A. Opens Its New Light-Rail Link". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 27, 2023.