The A Line light-rail just keeps on rolling.

On Thursday, Jan. 29, the longest all-electric, light-rail line in the nation was approved for yet another extension, a short, 2.3-mile addition from Pomona to Claremont that will take it to the eastern edge of Los Angeles County.

“This is an exciting day,” said Ed Reece, vice mayor of Claremont and the chair of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, after the board voted unanimously to approve a design/engineering contract for the extension costing $61 million. The contract went to Parsons Transportation Group Inc.

In addition, the board voted to send out requests for a construction contractor who will do early construction and then present the Construction Authority with a project cost estimate based on the design team’s finished work. The Construction Authority can accept the bid from the contractor, or find another construction contractor.

The Authority was awarded $798 million from L.A. Metro in October 2024 to extend the A Line (previously known as the Gold Line) to Claremont. The money came from state Senate Bill 1 dollars that are funneled from taxes on gasoline, diesel fuel and a fee added to vehicle registrations. About $200 million will be spent on the design, real estate acquisitions, administration, right-of-ways and permits with railroad firms whose tracks must be moved to make way for the light-rail tracks.

This leaves about $600 million for actual construction, said Habib Balian, CEO of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority. Will the authority have enough money to construct the line and a new station in Claremont?

“We are keeping our fingers crossed we get the right team and it is something we can afford,” Balian said of the contract request for the second contract, called the Construction-Manager-At-Risk. The at-risk in the name means the construction contractor assumes more risk than in other types of processes, such as the design-build approach used in other Construction Authority extension projects.

Balian said he would know after the design is done and the CMAR contractor submits a price in about 1½ years, but said he was optimistic. “Our estimate today shows this project is affordable based on the funds we have,” Balian said in an interview Thursday.

Though relatively short, the extension into Claremont is complicated. It will involve building bridges over Garey Avenue, Towne Avenue and Indian Hill Boulevard in Claremont. Also, some of the biggest costs come from relocating about a mile of the Metrolink track and a half-mile of freight track, said Chris Burner, chief project officer.

The station at Claremont will be the second one on the A Line that also has a Metrolink Station, the other is Pomona. This may increase the transfer of Metrolink riders coming from the Inland Empire to the light-rail at these A-Line stations.

“This is going to bring a lot of opportunity not only to the eastern end of the San Gabriel Valley, but also to Claremont,” Reece said. He said the many shops and restaurants in the Claremont Village, for example, will benefit from customers taking the A Line from other parts of the San Gabriel Valley.

The A Line currently is 57.6 miles long with 48 stations, running from Long Beach to Pomona, through downtown Los Angeles, Highland Park and Pasadena, and with stations in the foothill cities of the San Gabriel Valley. Adding the next station at Claremont would bring the train line to nearly 60 miles long, with 49 stations. The extension from Glendora to Pomona opened on Sept. 19.

Major construction on the Pomona to Claremont extension is expected to take four years, starting in 2027 and completing in late 2031, according to the Construction Authority.

Originally, this line was approved to reach into San Bernardino County, with its eastern terminus at the Montclair Transit Center. But in September, the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority’s Board of Directors voted 15-11 to defund the agency’s portion of the planned extension of the A Line from Pomona to Montclair, citing concerns about increasing costs and limited input into decisions related to the project.

Members of the Construction Authority board said the vote on Thursday increases the momentum that the line will someday reach about another mile into Montclair, an eastern Inland Empire terminus that had been planned for more than two decades.

“I appreciate we are moving forward. This is a good day,” said Tim Hepburn, La Verne mayor. “This is not a train to nowhere. It is a train to Claremont, and hopefully to San Bernardino (County).”

Related links

• LA Metro awards funding to extend light-rail line into San Bernardino County
• Extension of LA Metro A Line train to Pomona may attract Inland Empire commuters
• San Bernardino County transportation agency votes down Montclair light-rail extension
• Why did San Bernardino County kill the A Line extension to Montclair?
• $1 billion price tag dooms underground shuttle to Ontario airport