The Metro Board Room on the third floor of One Gateway Plaza, the headquarters for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was packed. People began arriving as early as 7 AM, while Metro staff organized a sign-up system for public commenters, creating a line that snaked around the atrium and led them up the escalators to several overflow rooms. Ten years ago, it would have been unimaginable for the Metro Board to vote on two multi-billion-dollar rail extension projects in the same session. Yet, here we were, just two months after the Board approved a one-billion-dollar project called Link US, with Organizations, advocates, and residents from diverse communities came together to voice their support for transit in Los Angeles.

The vote for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project as we had hoped thanks to our advocacy for alongside the Sepulveda Transit Corridor 4 All Coalition--to adopt the Metro staff recommendation of Modified Alternative 5--an underground heavy-rail alignment along Van Nuys Boulevard with stations at the G Line, Ventura Blvd, UCLA, and the D Line--as the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA).

The day before the vote, Move LA orchestrated a major rally and press conference on the steps of the Van Nuys City Hall with our broad coalition of labor, business, environmental, and elected officials coming together to say "yes!" to the Modified Alternative 5 proposal.

The project will save significant time — taking just about 10 minutes to travel from the Valley to the Westside — and carry more than 120,000 daily boardings. A report from the LA Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) found the project will generate $25.1 billion to $39.9 billion in total economic output for LA County, and create 86,960 to 138,090 direct jobs.

The second project--an extension of the K Line (formerly the C Line) to the South Bay. Unfortunately, the vote on this project did not yield the outcome we advocated. For over two years, we worked with local advocates at South Bay Forward to advance rail to the South Bay using the most feasible route--the Metro-owned "Right-of-Way." On behalf of Move LA and the coalition, we wrote several letters, provided public testimony, and advocated for the Hybrid Alternative — the Locally Preferred Alternative recommended by staff following the extension study, public outreach, and public hearing.

In a surprise motion by Directors Mitchell, Sandoval, Dupont-Walker, and Butts, the Board chose the Hawthorne Boulevard alignment in a highly irregular vote. While we have reservations about this LPA, we are cautiously optimistic that the project has champions, as it will need them to succeed. We plan to continue tracking this project closely and hold the Metro Board and cities accountable to the voters' will.

Our partners at South Bay Forward will also be working on first- and last-mile planning for this project, preserving public ownership of the rail corridor, and advocating for Metro Board reform. The Metro Board will need to be reformed within the next year due to the passage of Measure G and the expansion of the Board of Supervisors. You can support there work by visiting their website.

Ultimately, the January 2026 Metro Board meeting will go down as one of the most consequential in Metro history. It was truly inspiring to see nearly a thousand Angelenos show up to a Metro Board meeting during a workday to make their voice heard on the future of rail transit in the region. This is the result of Move LA's decades-long work to pass Measure R and M and ensure that every region of this vast County gets high-quality public transportation options.

Read More on the Metro Projects from the January 2026 Board Meeting

• LA Metro Board says heck yeah to proposed Sepulveda Transit Corridor train route — with a warning | LAist
• Metro unveils subway plan through Sepulveda Pass | Spectrum News
• Multibillion-dollar transit project to tunnel through the Santa Monica Mountains is approved by L.A. Metro | LA Times
• Uh Oh! Dueling Alignments Could Throw Torrance Metro Rail Extension into Limbo
• Metro board approves South Bay transit plan, the K Line extension along Hawthorne Boulevard