The train meant to change how the Westside reaches LAX won't carry a passenger this Thanksgiving, and probably not in December either. In a September 16 disclosure filing reported by the Los Angeles Times, contractor LAX Integrated Express Solutions, known as LINXS, said the 2.25-mile automated people mover could be running by Jan. 6. The company also warned that the date could slip again. Westside Today described the new target as January 2027.
For most of Los Angeles that's a story about a $3.3 billion project that was supposed to open in 2023. Westchester has a more practical stake. The rail half of the airport connection already runs through the neighborhood and has since June 2025. The missing piece is the last stretch between the LAX/Metro Transit Center and the terminals. This holiday season a shuttle bus covers that stretch, on streets that crews are tearing up to build the roads that will serve the train.
The Train Has One More Hurdle Before Anyone Rides It
According to the Times report, the project's technical completion deadline is now Dec. 8, but LINXS expects to need more time. Before opening, the train has to complete 30 consecutive days of successful testing, receive an independent review, and pass an assessment by Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that runs LAX. A utility agreement with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power also has to be finished.
The filing's own language is careful:
"There can be no assurances that achievement of the Passenger Service Availability Date will not be delayed further."
The same article cites a Fitch Ratings assessment that the project is 99% complete, with the 30-day test run expected to begin in the coming weeks. The earliest projected opening is Jan. 6, and the test run alone takes a month. Both facts put the train past the Thanksgiving and December travel peaks. The Times also notes that a January opening would come a little more than a month before the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, which would be the train's next major test after it missed the World Cup this summer.
The Rail Half Is Already Built
The LAX/Metro Transit Center at Aviation Boulevard and 96th Street opened to the public on June 6, 2025, and both the C Line and the K Line serve it. Westchester sits on the K Line. Under the timetable that took effect June 7, 2026, the K Line runs between Expo/Crenshaw and Redondo Beach, with Westchester/Veterans and Downtown Inglewood among its stations. Trains come about every 13 minutes in parts of the early weekday schedule and every 20 minutes at other times. That's a reading of the published trip times rather than a guaranteed headway, so check the current schedule before you leave.
Metro's June 2026 service changes helped late-night arrivals and departures on the C Line. The last two westbound C Line trips on weekdays and weekends now run all the way to the Transit Center.
Metro describes the station as having a bike hub, a bus plaza, a customer service center and 24/7 security monitoring. Streetsblog LA's opening-day coverage showed a walk and bike path on Arbor Vitae Street and a multi-use path along Aviation Boulevard, both of which give the north side of the station a non-driving way in from the neighborhood. Metro's airport guide lists park-and-ride lots at nearby C and K Line stations, not at the Transit Center itself.
The Last Two Miles Run on a Bus
Until the train opens, this is the full trip from Westchester to a terminal curb by transit:
- Ride the K Line from Westchester/Veterans or Downtown Inglewood to the LAX/Metro Transit Center. If you're starting along the C Line, ride it to the end of the line.
- Walk to Bays 1 and 2, where Metro says a free, frequent shuttle runs to every airport terminal.
- Board the Metro Connector. LAX lists it as running daily from 4 a.m. to 1 a.m., about every 10 minutes on average.
The Transit Center has other ways in besides the train. Metro lists bus Lines 102, 111, 117, 120 and 232 at the station. Metro Micro, the on-demand rideshare van, runs a LAX/Inglewood zone every day from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. for $2.50 per ride, with stop-to-stop service.
If you're taking a taxi or a standard ride-app car, nothing has changed. LAX still sends those passengers to LAX-it, the pickup lot beside Terminal 1. You can walk there or take a free shuttle from the arrivals level of each terminal.
A 10-minute average frequency doesn't tell you how long the bus ride takes, and right now the ride runs through active construction. LAX's own Labor Day 2026 guidance told travelers to expect detours and longer shuttle times during fall construction. The same guidance pointed them to the free shuttle between the Transit Center and the terminals' Lower/Arrivals level.
The Construction Is on Westchester's Southern Edge
The shuttle times stretch because the work is right on its route. An October 5, 2026 update on LAWA's roadway construction, posted by the City of El Segundo, lists the work on the blocks between Sepulveda, Century and Aviation:
- Century Boulevard: Both westbound lanes between Jetway Boulevard and Vicksburg Avenue close every night, tentatively starting the week of September 21 and continuing through mid-November. Crews are installing falsework for the new airport roadway structures. Local traffic is rerouted to 98th Street and airport traffic to 96th Street.
- Sepulveda Boulevard: Lane closures set up a new traffic pattern on southbound Sepulveda just north of Century, with more work expected October 15 and 16. Median barrier demolition between 96th Street and Century was scheduled for October 6 through 9.
- Jetway Boulevard and 96th Street: Traffic signal work at the intersection is set for the nights of October 15 and 16.
- 96th Street: Ongoing project-wide work includes preparation for a future 96th Street pedestrian bridge and traffic bridges near the 96th Street closure.
LAWA's active advisories page also lists the westbound Century closures for September 21 through November 13. If that end date holds, the nightly Century closures end shortly before Thanksgiving week. The city update calls the schedule tentative, so check LAWA's advisories page again closer to your travel date.
How Busy the Airport Gets
LAX hasn't published a Thanksgiving 2026 forecast yet. The most recent peak it did measure gives a sense of scale. For the 10-day Labor Day period, Aug. 31 through Sept. 9, 2026, LAWA forecast more than 1.9 million passengers, an average of 194,000 a day. About 231,000 travelers were expected on the busiest day, Friday, Sept. 4, roughly 19% above that average. For that weekend the airport added buses to the LAX-it shuttle and posted ambassadors to help passengers. It didn't publish an expected wait time. LAX's standing advice is to arrive two hours before a domestic flight and three hours before an international one.
What Changes for Westchester When the Train Opens
Two changes are planned, and both shift airport activity toward the Transit Center at Aviation and 96th.
First, the shuttle leg goes away. LAWA's plan for the people mover is 24/7 service that's free for ticketed passengers, airport employees and people dropping off or picking up travelers. From 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., trains are planned every two minutes, and a full end-to-end ride takes 10 minutes. The system has six stations: three in the Central Terminal Area and three serving Economy Parking, the LAX/Metro Transit Center and the Rental Car Center. Those are LAWA's posted plans. Nobody has seen them in operation yet.
Second, the rideshare and taxi lot moves. Once the people mover opens, the designated lot will relocate from its space near Terminal 1 to an area near the Metro Transit Center, according to the Times. For the neighborhood that means pickups that now happen deep inside the airport loop will move to Aviation Boulevard, next to the station Westchester already uses.
Until then, a holiday trip from Westchester by transit takes three steps: the K Line to 96th and Aviation, the Metro Connector shuttle to the terminals, and extra time for the work on Century and Sepulveda.
Living next to LAX shapes daily life in Westchester, and The Kohl Team keeps up with changes like these across the Westside, block by block. If you're thinking about what the people mover and the new rideshare lot could mean for your own street, reach out to The Kohl Team and request your complimentary home valuation.