Photo: Joe Linton

Our friend Joe Linton sends the above picture from his cell phone from Union Station this morning. My first thought was that this couldn’t be for Metro Rail. Just last week Streetsblog exclusively reported that the turnstile program had been suspended. Turns out they are Metro turnstiles, and Metro’s Rick Jaeger explains:

No, they are for our system. In light of our CEO’s concerns, it was decided last week to do a pilot test of the gating system at four stations. So gates will be installed at Union Station, Wilshire/Normadie, Westlake and Pershing Square stations on the Red/Purple lines. This will give staff an opportunity to test the gates and see how they are working. During the testing period, the gates will be "free-spinning". It is my understanding that Art Leahy will then make a report back to the Board on the gating program at the September Board meeting.

Looks like I got the part about the suspension correct, but had the time frame a little long. We initially reported that Leahy’s report was due in December.