LAX's long-awaited train to hit the rails as testing begins

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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 — actual trains moving along the tracks.The airport’s long-awaited Automated People Mover system will begin running without passengers Monday, according to airport executive Jake Adams, who is overseeing a $5.5-billion initiative to improve access at LAX.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 — ferrying riders over the airport’s notorious horseshoe loop.“It’s really exciting, because not only is it a big milestone for the project, but it’s going to be a really visible milestone for all of our guests,” Adams said of the testing.

“They’re going to get to see tons of trains running up and down the guideway all over the LAX campus.” California Major projects underway include the long-awaited people mover at LAX, a Sepulveda Pass subway, and new light rail to Pomona, Torrance and Southeast L.A.County.Before passengers are put on the trains, the system must run 24/7 for 30 days “without any hiccups,” he said.

Hiccups could entail something as big as a train breakdown or as small as a platform door not opening.There was a “very minor incident” on Monday where one slowly moving train bumped into another inside a maintenance and storage facility, Adams said.“There was no injuries, no damage, no impact to testing, so it’s just one of those things that we’ll do a root cause analysis on to make sure we learn from it, so that it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

Once reliability testing is done, there will...