Over the past year, Metro Rail's increased passenger load has coincided with a slew of ugrades to the Financial District's 7th Street/Metro Center Station.  The latest in the ongoing series of improvements is the addition of next-train monitors on the station's upper platform.  Utilizing a large, ADA-compliant font size, these monitors display countdown timers for trains on Metro's Blue and Expo light rail lines.  These relatively simple upgrades can go a long way, given the hectic (and claustrophobic) rush hour environment within the station.  7th Street/Metro Center is set to become even more crowded over the next several years, with a variety of new projects getting underway both above and below ground.  The Ratkovich Group is gearing up for construction on it's $160 million remodel of Macy's Plaza, which will create a new subway portal on the southern side of 7th Street.  One block west, the 73-story Wilshire Grand Center will add 400,000 square feet of office space and 900 hotel rooms by 2017.  Most importantly, the Regional Connector will eventually create a new 1.9 mile subway tunnel in-between the Financial District and Little Tokyo.