Van Nuys Boulevard is getting its rail service back after more than seven decades without it, but the project bringing it there now carries a $3.6 billion price tag and a completion date pushed all the way to December 2031. The East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project, a 6.7-mile line with 11 new stations serving Panorama City, Arleta and Pacoima, was once projected to open in 2027 — meaning it will now miss the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games entirely.
The delay stems from major design changes and utility relocation work along the corridor, according to the New York Post. Construction broke ground in July 2026, and LA Metro has awarded the Skanska and Stacy Witbeck joint venture a $2.43 billion construction contract covering preconstruction and early works, part of the project's overall $3.6 billion cost. The line is financed entirely through local, state and federal public funding, with Los Angeles County taxpayers contributing through Measure M, a half-cent sales tax voters approved, alongside California taxpayers funding a share through the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program and gas-tax revenues.
A Federal Grant That Broke New Ground
The single largest piece of that funding puzzle arrived in September 2024, when the Federal Transit Administration awarded LA Metro an $893.3 million Full Funding Grant Agreement — money drawn from nationwide tax revenues provided under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. According to the Federal Transit Administration, it was the first Full Funding Grant Agreement ever issued under the federal Expedited Project Delivery Pilot Program, a streamlined approval track originally authorized by Congress under the FAST Act. The line will restore fixed-guideway passenger rail to Van Nuys Boulevard for the first time since December 1952, when the Pacific Electric Railway shut down its San Fernando Valley Line streetcars, a historical marker noted by the Los Angeles Times.
The stakes for the corridor are significant. Roughly 19% of households along the route in Van Nuys, Panorama City, Arleta and Pacoima do not own a motor vehicle, per Smart Cities Dive, underscoring how heavily transit-dependent these neighborhoods are. LA Metro projects the line will carry more than 30,000 daily boardings by 2040, completing the full 6.7-mile trip along Van Nuys Boulevard in 31 minutes once it opens.
What Riders Will Get, and When
All 11 stations will include shade structures, and the project's 26-acre rail and maintenance facility is planned to include an on-site solar power system, designed through a public-private partnership, that is expected to supply roughly 70% of the facility's clean energy needs. At the southern end, the line's Van Nuys Station will connect directly with the Metro G Line bus rapid transit and the proposed Sepulveda Transit Corridor, a heavy rail project estimated at more than $10 billion; Mass Transit reports LA Metro selected Modified Alternative 5 for that corridor in 2026, setting up a direct subway transfer at Van Nuys.
James Bailey called the project an investment in mobility for the region, and backers say it will give residents another way to reach work, school and regional destinations. Eric Meisgeier has said crews must get every detail right while working through busy Los Angeles urban corridors, noting the project requires coordinating utility work through to revenue service across those active streets. That coordination has already disrupted commuters: LA Metro temporarily closed the G Line's Van Nuys station and shifted bus rapid transit transfers to temporary stops on Oxnard Street, a detour set to remain in place into 2027, according to background compiled from LA Metro records.
Jobs, Contracts and a Complicated Phase 2
Construction and operation of the project are expected to create more than 18,000 direct and indirect jobs, with new local-hire rules covering some project jobs under the federal infrastructure bill. LA Metro also incorporated what Progressive Railroading described as a first-of-its-kind Cultural Competency Plan into the contract, requiring builders to conduct cross-cultural workforce training and targeted Spanish-language engagement with local businesses along a route that passes through state-designated Equity Focus Communities. To ease the burden of right-of-way acquisition, the LA Metro Board voted in July 2025 to extend its Acquisition Incentive Pilot Program to the corridor, offering property and business owners financial incentive payments during the acquisition process.
AECOM has been selected to lead final design on Phase 2 of the project, but that northern segment is still being reshaped. In November 2025, LA Metro staff recommended building a $150 million to $200 million Metrolink infill station in Pacoima instead of pursuing a $900 million to $1.2 billion light rail extension north to Sylmar, a shift reported by Urbanize LA that followed municipal concerns in the City of San Fernando over street-level train frequencies.
The progressive design-build delivery method used on the project has enabled close collaboration between LA Metro, designers, builders, stakeholders and community members throughout planning. Skanska, one half of the joint venture building the Van Nuys line, recently wrapped a 10-year, $2.2 billion project on LA's D Line, the Purple Line subway extension, where crews unearthed massive ice age fossils and navigated pockets of hazardous explosive gases underground. Whether the East San Fernando Valley line's own five-year construction window brings similarly unexpected discoveries remains to be seen, but for now, Van Nuys Boulevard riders are looking at a wait that stretches to December 2031.
