The LAX Automated People Mover is long delayed and $880M over budget. Here's what went wrong

LAX’s Automated People Mover, the long-awaited train connecting airport terminals to the Metro system, was originally slated to open by 2023.

But the completion date has been pushed back until early 2026. And now, the final testing and safety checks won't be done until June 2026, according to the independent credit rating agency Fitch Ratings.

The project’s not just late. It’s now $880 million more expensive than the original $1.9 billion price tag.

A report from the 2024-25 L.A. County Grand Jury released in June determined that the LAX Automated People Mover has been slowed by a strained relationship between Los Angeles World Airports and its contractor for the project, LINXS, “inadequate” conflict resolution processes and political pressures. According to the grand jury, LINXS took advantage of these factors to “force” the city to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle disputes.

The report from the grand jury includes findings that could inform other large scale infrastructure projects, including the recently approved expansion of the downtown L.A. Convention Center.

What is the Automated People Mover?

The 2.25 mile-long elevated train will eventually shuttle travelers between the airport terminals, car rental center and newly opened LAX Metro Transit Center.

In 2018, L.A. City Council approved a $4.9 billion contract for LINXS to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the Automated People Mover over a 30-year period.

It’s one part of a $30 billion LAX renovation plan that has been billed the largest public works program in the history of Los Angeles.

Of the total amount, $1.9 billion was allocated for the “initial design and construction cost,” according to the grand jury report.

The updated timeline has the train operating just in time for the 2026 World Cup in Los Angeles, although the CEO of Los Angeles World Airports told the L.A. Times there are backup plans in case the people mover is not ready by the start of the tournament next June.

What went wrong?

The project was initially conceived as a design-build contract, meaning the same entity was responsible for both the design and construction of the train. According to the grand jury report, this contract structure is supposed to minimize the need for change orders that add costs to a project after construction has started.

Despite this arrangement, the Automated People Mover racked up change orders.

“LINXS was not following the approved submittals,” one city official told the report authors. “They did what they wanted and treated the work as if the contract were a design-build, redesign, build redesign.”

By the end of 2023, the city had already paid more than $200 million to settle disputes, including $100 million to resolve a design criteria change.

According to the report, an additional 209 claims needed to be resolved, and as a result, work slowed and the relationship between LAWA and LINXS frayed.

In 2024, the work slowed enough that Fitch, the credit rating agency, downgraded the project's prospects.

“The project has experienced extended construction delays, prolonged dispute resolution, and difficulties in the parties' working relationship,” Fitch wrote, leading to “uncertainty regarding the project's timely completion.”

The report said this put pressure on the city to resolve the outstanding disputes quickly so that work could resume at full speed and the train could be complete in time for the mega-events L.A. is playing host to over the next three years.

According to the grand jury, LINXS “leveraged the change order process by implicitly holding out the threat of prolonged litigation to force LAWA to agree to the change orders, and to get the project completed in time for the high profile events so as not to embarrass the City.”

The agencies agreed to a “global settlement,” resolving all the outstanding disputes for a total of $550 million and pushing back the completion date to December 2025, with passenger service following early in the new year.

An August report from Fitch blames continued “construction delays, prolonged dispute resolution and difficulties in the parties’ working relationship” for the most recent pushback of the train’s completion to June 2026.

Lessons learned

The authors of the grand jury report said the ultimate purpose of the report was to “offer suggestions or recommendations” to minimize similar delays and cost overruns for future capital projects in the region, including the expansion of the convention center.

One recommendation includes considering how publicly committing to completion timelines could affect the city’s “ability to negotiate” with its contractor.

“What if City makes a commitment to hold a convention based on projected renovation completion date?” the report states. “Construction delays may force excessive change orders to meet the commitment.”

Los Angeles World Airports wrote a letter to the City Council in January detailing what they believe could be improved for future public-private partnerships, including revising the dispute resolution process and improving coordination with other city agencies through the design and construction phases.

A Los Angeles World Airports spokesperson didn’t say whether there would or wouldn’t be any future work with the Automated People Mover contractor.

“LAWA continues to work with LINXS on the Automated People Mover project, which is planned to open to the public in early 2026,” the spokesperson told LAist earlier this year — before the completion date was moved once more. “Contracts for future projects will be issued in accordance with policies and procedures set forth by LAWA and the City of Los Angeles.”