Imagine driving in stop-and-go traffic on the jam-packed 405 Freeway and seeing a sleek monorail train cruise by you along the freeway median.

That’s the vision of the Los Angeles Sky Rail Express monorail construction consortium that offers a cheaper rail alternative with the most stops along or near the Sepulveda Pass corridor.

The consortium has six prime contractor members and is led by Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer and monorail systems developer BYD, with infrastructure financing services from London-based John Laing.

Under the unique predevelopment agreement arrangement with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Sky Rail Express consortium has been awarded $63.5 million to refine its proposal.

“SkyRail is the advanced, high speed, high-capacity monorail system that incorporates advances that have been made in monorail technology through urban applications in many of the world’s largest cities over the past 60 years,” Anthony Phillips, co-head of private-public-partnerships and greenfield projects at John Laing, said when the consortium received a $63.5 million predevelopment contract award from Metro.

Consortium member BYD has experience supplying electric-powered monorail trains, including a 10-mile monorail line that opened in 2021 in its hometown Chinese province of Chongqing and a 12-mile line set to open in 2026 in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

One alternative dropped

For the Sepulveda Pass rail project, the Los Angeles Sky Rail Express consortium initially proposed three monorail alternatives for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to consider: the first and cheapest would run entirely above ground for nearly 15 miles along the 405 Freeway; a second alternative would include an underground automated people mover tunnel connection to the UCLA campus; and the third would include a 3.5-mile underground monorail detour to UCLA in Westwood.

But late last year, the consortium requested that the people mover alternative be dropped from consideration, citing extra costs for accommodating the different people mover technology and a route that went through a significant chunk of federal property, thus requiring more extensive federal review.

Both remaining alternatives start from the northern terminus at the Metrolink station in Van Nuys, then head west a short distance to the 405 Freeway and then south along the 405 to the Getty Center.

From there, the first alternative continues along the 405 to the southern terminus at the E (Expo) Line station at Sepulveda Boulevard.

The other alternative (known as Alternative 3) plunges underground after the Getty Center and heads southeast to a planned station on the southern portion of the UCLA campus.

Then it veers south and continues to the Metro D (Purple) Line station at Wilshire and Westwood boulevards that’s now under construction. Finally, it heads back west, emerging above ground near the planned station at Santa Monica and Sepulveda boulevards; from there it continues above ground to the E Line station at Sepulveda.

Both lines would have automated rail cars. During peak hours, the monorail trains would have up to eight cars; trains would run every 2 minutes or so, with a capacity to carry up to 22,000 passengers per hour.

Alternative 1 would have eight stations, while Alternative 3 would add a station at UCLA and shift the Wilshire station east about three-fourths of a mile to Westwood Boulevard where it would meet the Metro D (Purple) Line extension now under construction.

The first alternative that runs entirely above ground would be the cheaper option of the two.

Metro officials said new cost projections for each alternative would be released in conjunction with the full environmental impact report due out next spring.

Transit advocate opposition

The L.A. Sky Rail Express monorail alternatives have drawn some opposition from transit advocates who have said at public hearings that with end-to-end travel times of roughly 30 minutes, these options are too slow compared to the heavy rail/subway options that could traverse the distance in under 20 minutes.

There has also been opposition from some residents who are concerned about the visual and noise impacts of an above-ground monorail.

And the first alternative has prompted concerns about the placement of the stations immediately next to the 405 Freeway, forcing those trying to get to activity centers up to a mile away to connect to buses.