Narrative:

We were flying XXX-lax and were delayed due to the baggage system being partially inop. We did a terrific job of making up as much time as possible for the late night connections to the east coast. We arrived in lax right at midnight and had 3 runway changes coming in as they were changing the configuration to landing to the east. I was also conducting a qualification line check to finish the new first officer on his oe. We landed on runway 6L; rolled to the end to exit at taxiway V. We were cleared across [runway] 6R and then to take east; right south route to our gate. Some of our B737 have nice bright taxi lights; unfortunately this plane's taxi light was very dim. We were taxiing west on taxiway east to make the turn on right. There are no green taxiway centerline lights on east except for some turn offs; I think either onto east or they were for turning off east. I noticed as we passed south that it looked like I had taxiway centerline lights again. However; I quickly realized that those were not green centerline; it was the blue taxiway edge lights. The taxiway east shifts just enough to make the edge lights perfectly lined up with where centerline lights should be. I abruptly made [a] left turn to remain on the taxiway but I thought this was worthy of mentioning as it could easily be confused with centerline lights briefly. The errors I made are being overly familiar with an airport that I have been flying out of for 25 years can allow complacency with me assuming I know it well. I do not land to the east often and have not done this taxi route in a very long time. I was taxiing around 20 kts approaching the intersection; which is within SOP; however; if I had seen that a turn was coming I would have slowed down earlier. As always; when trying to make up time that is when risks increase exponentially. Also expecting a long straight taxi allows you to think you can talk to the first officer about upcoming items; such as switching to south ground at checkpoint 2 and contacting ramp to inquire about gate and alley status. I did not noticed on my jepp airport moving map that the taxiway shifted as we were approaching it even though I had it open and displayed right next to me in its bracket. I would suggest making this a hot spot and/or preferably adding green centerline lights through this intersection. Also; airports like ord change their taxiway routing when landing in different directions and maybe lax should consider this to have taxiway T be the southbound taxiway and right northbound.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reported confusion over taxiway position and lighting during night taxi at LAX airport.

Narrative: We were flying XXX-LAX and were delayed due to the baggage system being partially inop. We did a terrific job of making up as much time as possible for the late night connections to the east coast. We arrived in LAX right at midnight and had 3 runway changes coming in as they were changing the configuration to landing to the east. I was also conducting a Qualification Line Check to finish the new First Officer on his OE. We landed on Runway 6L; rolled to the end to exit at Taxiway V. We were cleared across [Runway] 6R and then to take E; R south route to our gate. Some of our B737 have nice bright taxi lights; unfortunately this plane's taxi light was very dim. We were taxiing west on Taxiway E to make the turn on R. There are no green taxiway centerline lights on E except for some turn offs; I think either onto E or they were for turning off E. I noticed as we passed S that it looked like I had taxiway centerline lights again. However; I quickly realized that those were not green centerline; it was the blue taxiway edge lights. The Taxiway E shifts just enough to make the edge lights perfectly lined up with where centerline lights should be. I abruptly made [a] left turn to remain on the taxiway but I thought this was worthy of mentioning as it could easily be confused with centerline lights briefly. The errors I made are being overly familiar with an airport that I have been flying out of for 25 years can allow complacency with me assuming I know it well. I do not land to the east often and have not done this taxi route in a very long time. I was taxiing around 20 kts approaching the intersection; which is within SOP; however; if I had seen that a turn was coming I would have slowed down earlier. As always; when trying to make up time that is when risks increase exponentially. Also expecting a long straight taxi allows you to think you can talk to the First Officer about upcoming items; such as switching to south ground at checkpoint 2 and contacting Ramp to inquire about gate and alley status. I did not noticed on my Jepp Airport moving map that the taxiway shifted as we were approaching it even though I had it open and displayed right next to me in its bracket. I would suggest making this a hot spot and/or preferably adding green centerline lights through this intersection. Also; airports like ORD change their taxiway routing when landing in different directions and maybe LAX should consider this to have Taxiway T be the southbound taxiway and R northbound.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.