With a blast of confetti, the A Line light-rail train smashed through the banner at the new Pomona station, dropping off its first passengers from an inaugural ride on the train’s 9.1-mile extension that opened to the public on Friday, Sept. 19.
The extension of the LA Metro A Line, formerly known as the Gold Line, stretched the already hefty-sized line another 9.1 miles along the leafy, San Gabriel Valley foothill communities, bringing the total line’s length to nearly 58 miles by adding new stations in Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne/Fairplex and Pomona North.
After five years of construction, the $1.5-billion extension’s opening was celebrated with a mariachi band and speakers from the State Legislature, elected city and county representatives and transit officials who touted the latest LA Metro opening before an audience of more than 300 people.
“This is a celebration of a shared dream that today has become a reality. This line will bring us closer together for generations to come,” said Claremont City Councilmember Ed Reece, chair of the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority.
“It won’t be just about getting from A to B,” he added. “It will be about unlocking unprecedented access to jobs, education, and entertainment, transforming how our communities thrive and connecting millions across the greater Los Angeles region like never before.”
The Construction Authority has received about $800 million of state transit dollars to build another extension to Claremont and Montclair. While the bids for a Claremont project are still out, ending up across the county line in Montclair seems doubtful. A recent vote by the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority board defunded its portion and derailed the Montclair option.
“Our mandate is to Claremont and to Montclair,” said Habib Balian, CEO of the Construction Authority who celebrated his group’s third segment of the line. “It is very important for San Bernardino County to get behind that project.”
The morning ceremony was followed by throngs of public riders who wanted to experience the newest train line extension to open since the Regional Connector in downtown Los Angeles in June 2023.
Tom Clarke and his wife, Judy, came from their home in Covina, beginning their rail journey via the downtown Azusa Station. They rode the line to Pomona and were making their way back when they stopped to take in the food trucks and craft booths at the San Dimas Station, and also to visit their favorite store offering treats and presents for their dog.
“Yeah, I like this idea a lot,” said Tom. “With all the congestion and traffic, I don’t have to drive the freeway,” he said. The couple is planning a day trip to the Los Angeles Fairplex. From the La Verne station, they said they’ll walk to the Fairplex and pocket the $25 parking fee.
A group of friends in their 20s said the extension of the A Line brought out their inner train nerd.
Abe Lamontagne of North Hollywood, who once wrote a Kids Corner column on his experience with train-riding in Colorado for the Denver Post, was finding shade at the Glendora Station Friday afternoon.
Lamontagne wrecked his car a few years ago and never bought a new one. He said paying the price for a new car, plus gasoline and car insurance was not worth the cost. He’s hoping to find new places and cozy hangouts along the A Line’s foothill cities of eastern L.A. County.
“The line kind of drops you in the middle of these little business districts,” he noted. “Staying in a cafe for a couple of hours to relax would be nice.”
His friend, Addison LeClair, of West Los Angeles, rode the E Line and transferred to the A Line at the Pico Station and rode it to the new eastern terminus in Pomona North. LeClair, who doesn’t have a driver’s license, is a self-described transit nerd. “I am a big transit fan. I like seeing all the new ways people use transit. Now we are opening up large sections of L.A. County.”
The extension to Pomona adds transit access to 12 higher-educational institutions, such as University of La Verne, nearby Cal Poly Pomona and Mount San Antonio College.
The line will provide access to ULV students and faculty, an alternative to driving the clogged 210 Freeway, said Risa Dickson, president of the university. Some may go to other colleges but take advantage of housing at the ULV.
“They can get on the A Line and live in our dorms at a much lower rate than living in the community,” Dickson said.
L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis mentioned the connection to the Los Angeles County Fairplex. The $1.5 billion extension is the ninth project to be completed in LA Metro’s Twenty-Eight by ’28 initiative, which is a plan to add more rail and bus transit for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The LA28 Olympic Committee announced it will hold cricket matches at the Fairplex, signaling the sport’s return to the Olympic Games in 2028.
“The project comes at the perfect time,” said LA Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins. “The world will be coming to our region for the FIFA World Cup, the Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
The Glendora to Pomona segment is projected to add approximately 11,600 daily weekday boardings. Prior to Friday, the A Line carried 70,425 average weekday boardings, up from 61,000 in November 2023, according to Montclair City Manager Ed Starr.
Many officials, electric-train supporters and future riders said because the A Line now stops at the Pomona North station, where the heavy-rail passenger Metrolink train also stops, there is a side-by-side connection between the two services for the first time in either line’s history, not counting Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA). This will bring Inland Empire riders on Metrolink, which stops at Rancho Cucamonga and Montclair, to Pomona.
“All the people from San Bernardino County can have access. They can come to the Pomona station and park their cars,” said Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval after riding the inaugural train into the station Friday.
Sandoval, who also sits on the LA Metro board, said the Pomona station and three other stations open rail transit to East San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire families as both transportation and a cultural experience. “I’m thinking of the children who can get on the line with their parents and see people who are different from them and ask questions,” he said in an interview.
Some riders, like Lisa Milne and her 21-year-old son, Lloyd Milne, are familiar with trains. They live in Pasadena, where the A Line, then called the Gold Line, first began running from DTLA through South Pasadena and Pasadena in 2003.
Lloyd said he prefers taking the train over fighting the gridlock on the 210 Freeway. His mom said the train helps the environment by taking cars that spew toxic emissions off the road. And the A Line runs on electricity. “Yeah, I like that it is environmentally friendly,” said Lisa Milne.
Some other factoids about this light-rail line:
• It is the longest light-rail line in the world. With this extension, it is now 57.6 miles long with 48 stations, running from Long Beach to Pomona.
• Trains run 24/7, every 8 minutes on weekdays during peak hours, 10 minutes on off-peak weekdays and daytime weekends, and 20 minutes late evenings and overnight, according to LA Metro. The fare is $1.75, with two hours of free transfers. K-12 students, seniors, disabled and low-income riders can receive discounts.
• How long will it take to ride from the new stations to Union Station? Glendora: 52 minutes; San Dimas: 58 minutes; La Verne/Fairplex: 62 minutes; Pomona North: 64 minutes.
• The A line’s foothill corridor was once served by the Pacific Electric’s Monrovia-Glendora line. Rail disappeared from the region in 1951. The restoration of passenger service ended a 74-year gap. The route included the purchase of the former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe right-of-way.
• The first section opened in 2003 and ran between DTLA and Pasadena. An extension to Azusa opened in 2016. The Azusa-to-Pomona extension began construction in 2020 by the Metro Foothill Extension Gold Line Construction Authority, after the state Legislature established the authority in 1998.