Mayor Garcetti Joins Rail Manufacturing President and Employees Where Metro's Rail Cars are Made by 350 L.A. County Workers
PALMDALE -- Metro Vice Chair and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Kinkisharyo International, LLC President Akiyoshi Oba today urged a yes vote on Measure M to create new jobs. Kinkisharyo's 450,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Palmdale currently employs 350 people making rail cars for Metro's Gold and Expo lines, and they will soon make cars for the under-construction Crenshaw/LAX line. Measure M will dramatically increase rail transit all across Los Angeles County, requiring the manufacture of many more rail cars. According to the non-profit Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, Measure M will create 465,000 jobs across our region.
The Kinkisharyo facility cost $60 million to build and is located on 60 acres near the intersection of Sierra Highway and Avenue M in Palmdale.
Measure M is truly Countywide in scope. In addition to job creation, North County cities and unincorporated areas (including Palmdale, Lancaster and Santa Clarita) would immediately receive $22.5 million in annual funding to fix potholes, repave roads and make other local traffic and transportation infrastructure improvements. Local transit operators, including Antelope Valley Transit and Santa Clarita Transit, would also immediately recieve annual funding in excess of $5 million. Measure M would connect the 14 with the 18 in San Bernardino County, would improve the 5 between the 14 and Lake Hughes Road and would improve Metrolink service.
"We promised we would assemble our new rail cars in Los Angeles County, and as you can see, we are keeping that promise. These are truly American rail cars built with American hands," Mr. Oba said. "So far we have created more than 350 jobs. I hope all voters will support Measure M to keep the expansion of Los Angeles County's rail system going."
"By investing here, Kinkisharyo is making sure that L.A. County transit creates L.A. County jobs. And that's a key part of Measure M, the Los Angeles County Traffic Improvement Plan," Mayor Garcetti said. "New rail lines and new bus lines will require new rail cars and new buses, and if we come together to pass Measure M, L.A. County will emerge as a center for high-tech, high-performance transportation manufacturing. That's what we're already seeing here in Palmdale, and that's what we can see across L.A. County with Measure M."
Measure M will reduce the time people are stuck in traffic by fifteen percent a day. According to the non-profit Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, it will create 465,000 new jobs. Measure M will ease traffic immediately by repairing potholes and repaving local streets and roads in each of L.A. County’s 88 cities. It will keep senior, disabled, and student fares affordable and will provide critical earthquake retrofitting for overpasses and bridges.
A recent Texas A&M analysis found that traffic congestion costs the average commuter in our region $1,711, including from wasted fuel and lost productivity. All together, drivers in our region lose 622 million hours stuck in traffic a year, for a total cost of $13.3 billion, according to the analysis. The L.A. County population is projected to increase by 2.3 million.
Measure M will modernize L.A. County's aging transportation system and build a twenty-first century transportation network that expands subway, light rail, Rapid Bus, Metrolink, freeways, and highways. Measure M adds and accelerates transit lines and finally ties them together into a comprehensive system that will work with an improved freeway and local road network.