The K Line opens Friday, October 7

The wait is over!

The K Line will open to the public at noon on October 7, Metro announced today.

As part of the celebration of Metro’s seventh rail line, rides will be free across the entire Metro bus, rail and bike share system from noon on Friday, Oct. 7 through the end of service on Sunday, Oct. 9.

We know our riders, community members and so many others have been waiting for this moment. Everyone at Metro is excited to give everyone a chance to ride the K Line. And we are eternally grateful to the many residents and businesses who showed patience during construction.

The K Line will initially serve seven new stations between Expo/Crenshaw and Westchester/Veterans — see the map at right. The city of Inglewood will have three stations and many other communities will finally have easy access to the Metro Rail system, including Baldwin Hills, the Crenshaw Corridor, Hyde Park, Jefferson Park, West Adams and Westchester.

Other K Line facts

Please see the K Line page on metro.net for tons more info on the new rail line, including station information, how to ride Metro and all the vibrant artwork that is part of each station.
At Expo/Crenshaw Station, riders will be able to make an easy transfer between the K Line and the E Line (Expo) that runs between downtown Santa Monica, Culver City, USC, Exposition Park and downtown L.A.
As mentioned above, the K Line includes three stations in the boomtown that is Inglewood, including the Downtown Inglewood Station that provides easy access to busy Market Street.
And this spot of good news: Metro is also planning to launch a SoFi Stadium shuttle bus between the K Line and the stadium, in addition to the existing shuttle from the C Line.
The K Line will also eventually offer service to LAX community and the airport. The K Line’s Aviation/Century Station is expected to open in 2023 and the LAX/Metro Transit Center Station along the new K Line tracks is under construction and planned to open in 2024. That station will serve as the transfer point between Metro Rail, many Metro and muni bus lines and the LAX Automated People Mover that will serve airport terminals.
The K Line will eventually connect to the C Line. Metro is in the process of planning a C Line extension to Torrance.
On the north side of the K Line, we’re in the early planning stages of a project to extend the K Line north to the D Line (Purple) subway, West Hollywood and the B Line (Red) in Hollywood.

The K Line project has literally been decades in the making.

The last of the streetcars that served the Crenshaw Corridor stopped running in the mid-1950s and were replaced by buses. A regional rail plan in 1967 — yes, 1967, not a misprint — included a Crenshaw Corridor project. Three more studies in the 1990s and early 2000s identified potential routes for a project most everyone agreed was needed.

But it took the passage of the Measure R sales tax by LA County voters to finally deliver the funds needed to build a Crenshaw project. One year later, the Metro Board of Directors voted to make the project light rail instead of bus rapid transit. Several more years of planning took place before the project broke ground in 2014.

As many of you know, construction was a long process, owing in part to the rail line having two underground sections and running in a long trench on the south side of the LAX airfield before its junction with the C Line. One upside: Metro developed several strategies to help local businesses survive and hire more local workers.

Finally, we want to reiterate how excited we are to open the K Line for you — our customers, our neighbors, our stakeholders, our taxpayers and so many others who fought to improve transit in the area. Please keep an eye on our social media (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) for more details on opening weekend and how to ride. See you soon!