LAX's People Mover, the long-awaited train system, reaches construction milestone in billion-dollar project
LAX's People Mover, the long-awaited train system that's cost at least $2 billion to build, reached a new milestone since construction broke ground more than five years earlier.
The Los Angeles International Airport announced Wednesday that the transit system's four final train cars have arrived to the airport as the project continues toward a scheduled completion date of Dec. 8, 2025. It's expected to be up-and-running by January 2026.
"Receiving the final train cars for the APM signifies a major milestone for this project and our airport's transformation," John Ackerman, CEO of Los Angeles World Airports, said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the Los Angeles City Council voted to put another $400 million towards the project to settle legal claims. That's in addition to another $200 million allocated in May to settle similar claims from the project's contractor.
Now, all 44 train cars have been delivered for the so-called Automated People Mover (APM), which many hope will alleviate traffic that's long plagued LAX, finally getting passengers into and out of terminals as fast as similar train systems at airports in other major U.S. cities.
City officials have been trying to get the project completed in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics in LA.
Rides would be free to passengers, make stops every two minutes during peak hours and would last 10 minutes from one end of the ride to the next. The train would run 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
The Los Angeles airport's most recent solution to its long-running traffic and travel issues has been a shuttle service for rideshare services like Uber and Lyft, a less-than-perfect fix that's only lessened the number of cars on airport roads.
The APM is expected to eliminate more than 3,200 shuttle trips a day, according to LAX, with an estimated 27% reduction in traffic during peak hours. And car traffic is expected to improve in 30 intersections just outside the airport's grounds.
While the transit system was initially expected to be fully operational by 2023, there's been some delays in the building process including the settlement of legal claims that have added to overall costs. That, along with conflicts with municipalities and disagreements over construction timelines and pay, have all contributed to the extended deadline, LAist reports.
"Unfortunately, this is par for the course for transit projects in general across the U.S.," Jacob Wasserman, the lead public transportation researcher at UCLA, told the news outlet. "Cost overruns, and delays like this are frustrating, especially when they report the project is 95% or 96% completed."
LAX is the eighth-busiest airport in the world and more than 75 million people visited the facility last year, according to the airport.
Correction: A previous version of this story included a quote from Rep. Maxine Waters reported to be in reference to this transit project but the congresswoman was referring to another "people mover" transportation development in the county.