Oddly enough, the City of Southern California has rediscovered the utility of rail in moving people around a densely populated area -- light rail, heavy rail metro, and heavy rail commuter. Many of the old abandoned Pacific Electric lines have come back in the modern era.
As the more recently built urban areas densify, rail is showing what it can do to move people around efficiently.
Many of the old abandoned Pacific Electric lines have come back in the modern era.
I had read that the P.E. rights of way were deliberately sold off to make sure that rail was really dead. Of course the new light rail route between Long Beach and L.A. is going to be pretty much in the same place as the old P.E. lines since the towns haven’t moved very much. It just made the cost much higher.
Rode the P.E. (never called it the Red Car) a lot as a lad. The cars were old and pretty run down. When the L.A. MTD took them over, the handwriting was on the wall.