{"id":276608,"date":"2026-04-20T10:05:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/276608\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T10:05:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:05:32","slug":"lax-people-mover-hits-the-rails-as-testing-starts-when-will-it-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/276608\/","title":{"rendered":"LAX People Mover hits the rails as testing starts. When will it open?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recent travelers to Los Angeles International Airport are used to seeing an elevated railway connecting the terminals, but next week they will be greeted with a new and exciting sight \u2014 actual trains moving along the tracks.<\/p>\n

The airport\u2019s long-awaited Automated People Mover<\/a> system will begin running without passengers Monday, according to airport executive Jake Adams, who is overseeing a $5.5-billion initiative<\/a> to improve access at LAX. <\/p>\n

Over a roughly 60-day testing period, empty trains will run on the same schedule that the airport intends to use once the system opens to the public. The 2.25-mile electric train system is designed to help reduce airport congestion by connecting terminals, parking lots and passenger pickup and drop-off areas \u2014 ferrying riders over the airport\u2019s notorious horseshoe loop. <\/p>\n

\"Views <\/p>\n

The Automated People Mover runs past the terminal at LAX without passengers on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really exciting, because not only is it a big milestone for the project, but it\u2019s going to be a really visible milestone for all of our guests,\u201d Adams said of the testing. \u201cThey\u2019re going to get to see tons of trains running up and down the guideway all over the LAX campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before passengers are put on the trains, the system must run 24\/7 for 30 days \u201cwithout any hiccups,\u201d he said. Hiccups could entail something as big as a train breakdown or as small as a platform door not opening. <\/p>\n

There was a \u201cvery minor incident\u201d on Monday where one slowly moving train bumped into another inside a maintenance and storage facility, Adams said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no injuries, no damage, no impact to testing, so it\u2019s just one of those things that we\u2019ll do a root cause analysis on to make sure we learn from it, so that it doesn\u2019t happen again,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Once reliability testing is done, there will be another round of tests to ensure trains are integrated with fixed facilities such as elevators and stations, he said. Then, volunteers will be put on trains and provide feedback on navigating the system. <\/p>\n

At this time, Adams is hesitant to speculate on a possible public opening date.<\/p>\n

Construction began on the Automated People Mover in 2019, with an initial target opening date in 2023. But the system<\/a> has faced a series of setbacks and delays.<\/p>\n

In September, Los Angeles World Airports Chief Executive John Ackerman expressed hope<\/a> that the system would be ready in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a>. But with that sporting event less than two months away, and extensive testing still to be done, it\u2019s clear the goal posts will once again be moved. <\/p>\n

Adams said he is not concerned about how the delayed opening of the train system will affect World Cup congestion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe World Cup, for us, is just kind of a blip on the radar, because at LAX our peak summer travel demand is so much greater than the traffic that we\u2019re anticipating for the World Cup,\u201d he said. \u201cEven with that, we really don\u2019t expect any travel delays.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Automated People Mover, originally scheduled to open in 2023, is on track to handle World Cup fans arriving this summer.<\/p>\n

Part of the delay in opening the Automated People Mover has been a series of ongoing disputes<\/a> between Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that manages LAX; and the contractor in charge of building the train system, LAX Integrated Express Solutions, or LINXS. Disputes between LINXS and LAWA had already cost hundreds of millions of dollars in claims settlements as of September.<\/p>\n

In December, LINXS filed a government claim related to work performed on an electrical maintenance system, Adams confirmed. A claim is a necessary precursor to filing a lawsuit against a public agency. A spokesperson for LINXS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of the dispute Wednesday.<\/p>\n

According to documents obtained by LAist<\/a>, LINXS\u2019s recent government claim pertains to some $36 million worth of repair work it completed on an electrical maintenance system that it alleges is not within its scope of work. That work required power to be shutdown between February and July last year, which delayed testing of technology related to the Automated People Mover, according to LAist. <\/p>\n

\"Views <\/p>\n

Workers make some of the last adjustments to the Automated People Mover line at LAX on Thursday. Disputes between the contractor and the city agency have already cost hundreds of millions of dollars in claims settlements.<\/p>\n

Adams expressed hopes that any potential litigation and other ongoing disputes can be resolved without further lengthening the project timeline. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have multiple disputes with LINXS right now,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m confident we\u2019ll be able to work through these things and bring this train to the airport and to everybody that\u2019s been waiting for it for such a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Times staff writer Colleen Shalby contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recent travelers to Los Angeles International Airport are used to seeing an elevated railway connecting the terminals, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[119602,119601,83982,4700,119603,10517,21290,11190,48,52,51,1474,36589,47,50,49,21778,11936,17249,315,1968],"class_list":{"0":"post-276608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-2-25-mile-electric-train-system","9":"tag-actual-train","10":"tag-adams","11":"tag-airport","12":"tag-claim-settlement","13":"tag-delay","14":"tag-dispute","15":"tag-fifa-world-cup","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-la-headlines","18":"tag-la-news","19":"tag-lax","20":"tag-linxs","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","23":"tag-los-angeles-news","24":"tag-storage-facility","25":"tag-system","26":"tag-testing","27":"tag-time","28":"tag-work"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}