BYD Strategist Dr. Tom Stone says "SkyRail™ is an idea whose time has come"

LOS ANGELES - May 15, 2020 - PRLog -- In 2016, L.A. County voters passed Measure M with more than 70% in favor. It created what may be the nation's largest rapid transit expansion program.  Included within the program is a rapid transit link from the San Fernando Valley to the Westside of Los Angeles and south to LAX, along the Sepulveda Pass Corridor on the 405 Freeway.

Using BYD's advanced, fully autonomous SkyRail™ technology, a state-of-the-art elevated monorail system from the Valley to LAX can be built in about four years (after all the environmental permits, studies and clearances are completed). It can be built with available Measure M funds and in compliance with seismic design standards and specifications already in place.

If any company can do it, BYD can.  To pursue this bellwether project, BYD has teamed with several of the nation's, and the world's, leading design, construction, project management, and operations and maintenance companies to form the LA SkyRail Express Team.

The result in Los Angeles would be a high-capacity, high-speed rapid transit line that can move nearly 19,000 persons in both directions each hour – the equivalent of up to eight freeway lanes in each direction – at speeds up to 75 mph, which is more than triple the peak capacity of each of the light rail lines operating in the County today.

For nearly three years I have been very fortunate to serve as Senior Strategic Advisor to BYD's SkyRail and SkyShuttle team, based in the downtown Los Angeles North American Headquarters office.  In conjunction with our excellent consulting team of HDR, Gensler, and Innova, BYD completed a great deal of advance design and operational analysis work on the Sepulveda/405 Corridor – work that has confirmed the technical and financial viability of the SkyRail proposal.

Over that same period, supported by our local outreach consultant, Cerrell and Associates, we conducted countless briefings and workshops with key corridor stakeholders from both the private and public sectors.  This outreach program included several planning and concept design workshops with both UCLA (my alma mater!), and the Getty Center.

We have incorporated the excellent input we received from all of these briefings and workshops into the LA SkyRail Express Proposal – which if not further impacted by the Covid 19 crisis, is due to be submitted to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority ("LA Metro") next month.