Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation on Tuesday, lifting a ban that prohibits building a Light-Rail-Train (LRT) line along the Chandler right-of-way across the San Fernando Valley. This means that, given some time, the Bus-Rapid-Transit Orange Line could turn into a full-fledged rail line like the Gold or Expo Lines. 

While the rest of Los Angeles charges ahead building light-rail left and right, everyone's favorite Valley was left with exactly 0 train lines other than a short jaunt by the Red Line into North Hollywood. Thanks to a law passed in 1991 by State Senator Alan Robbins (who was convicted and served prison time for bribery in 1993), developing a cross-valley LRT was barred. 

Residents along the corridor lobbied Robbins hard to pass legislation that banned Metro from building "any form of rail transit other than a 'deep bore subway located at least 25 feet below ground.'"

A subway of that nature would have been prohibitivly expensive, especially in context of the Valley's lower population densities than other parts of the city. Metro circumnavigated this restriction by building the Orange Line as a Bus-Rapid-Transit line in place of a rail option.

Unfortunatly, the Orange Line has been running at peak capicity (31,000 boardings per day) for the past couple years, a difficulty that cannot be avoided without dramatically overhauling the line's basic structure.  

Although it won't be soon, the new legislation is at least an acknowledgement that the Valley badly needs better transportation options. If it was its own city, the San Fernando Valley would be the fourth largest city in America, and the only one entirely lacking any form of rail transit whatsoever.

It's important to note, too, that Metro is hard at work on developing an East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor, which will most likely result in a light-rail train running along Van Nuys Boulevard from Sylmar to Sherman Oaks.