A surge in ridership on the Metro Blue Line between Los Angeles and Long Beach has prompted transit officials to embark on a rail reconstruction project that includes adding a third car to trains.

“The ridership kept escalating and we were putting more trains on,” said Jeff Diaz, rail transportation superintendent for the Metropolitan Transit Authority. “We didn’t expect to experience this in my lifetime.”

When the Blue Line opened in July 1990, ridership was expected to increase to 30,000 people per weekday by 2000 or 2005. But average weekday-boarding numbers have far exceeded projections, breaking the 60,000 mark by April 2000 something that wasn’t supposed to happen until 2015. Last month, an estimated 63,000 people on average rode the Blue Line on weekdays.

During peak hours from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays the two-car trains that run along the 22-mile track between downtown L.A. and Long Beach are packed and open seats rare.

In an effort to ease the strain, the MTA last week began a reconstruction project at the Blue Line’s northern terminus, the 7th Street/Metro Center/Julian Dixon Station, that will allow for the addition of a third car on trains. An extra car means room for about 230 more people per train.

The $1.2-million project involves lengthening the train tracks so that when a three-car train reaches the end of the line it will have enough room to turn around. Service will continue as usual during the reconstruction, set to be completed this fall.

The reconstruction is the latest move by MTA officials to alleviate the space crunch on the Blue Line. Last year, work began to extend the platforms at 19 of the line’s 22 stations in order to accommodate three-car trains.

“Looking right now at the way ridership has escalated, we should be OK for 20 years,” Diaz said. “Whether that’s going to hold up or not, that’s another issue.”

But some believe it’s bad public policy to continue putting money into the metro system instead of investing in more buses.

“The trains are full but it’s not a very cost-effective way to move people,” said James Moore, a professor of civil engineering and public policy at USC. “If we were serious …about moving people, we would be investing in urban buses not trains.”