Miles SmithThe final stretch of a project to extend a Los Angeles-area intercity rail line into southern California’s San Gabriel Valley is a step closer to reality following recent action by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board.
The board approved a $798 million amendment to Metro’s ongoing funding agreement with the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority. The amendment, which goes to the construction authority for ratification, will complete Los Angeles County’s portion of the final 3.2-mile, two-station segment of the Metro A Line from Pomona to Montclair, California.
Once complete, the Foothill Gold Line extension will extend the Metro A Line 12.3 miles with stations in Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, Pomona, Claremont and Montclair.
The line is being built along the former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe right-of-way purchased by Metro in the early 1990s.
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“Bringing Metro rail to the residents of the northern San Gabriel Valley has been a priority for [L.A.] Metro for more than two decades,” L.A. Metro Board Chair and Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said. “Today’s approval allows that vision that so many in these communities have been waiting for to become reality and I look forward to breaking ground on it next year.”
The project has been ongoing since 2003, when the planning stages first got underway.
Once completed, a trip from Montclair to downtown Pasadena will take just over 40 minutes and further to Los Angeles will take approximately 75 minutes, Metro said.
Under the terms of the agreement, L.A. Metro will pay for its portion of the project with a state of California Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program grant. According to the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority, the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority has dedicated $80 million of state and local funding for the portion of the project in San Bernardino County.
The funding agreement officially expanded the scope of work that the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority can utilize the county’s funding to include the Los Angeles County portion of the final project segment from Pomona to Montclair, the authority said.
The Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority is in the process of hiring the design-build team for the shovel-ready project and expects to award a contract in spring 2025 and break ground later in the year, the authority said.
The final project segment will complete the Foothill Gold Line’s 25-station system that will eventually provide connections with Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line at both the Claremont and Montclair stations.
Photo courtesy Han Zheng
