Video: installing the tracks for the Gold Line Foothill Extension!

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Nice video above showing the work needed to install the tracks for the Gold Line Foothill Extension, which will take the Gold Line from eastern Pasadena for 11.5 miles to the Azusa/Glendora border. The Measure R funded project will include six new stations serving Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale, downtown Azusa and Citrus College and the surrounding neighborhoods.

The project is being built by the Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, an independent agency. When completed, the rail line will be handed over to Metro, which will operate rail service.

The final trackwork will be completed this Saturday  at an event held by the Construction Authority at 10 a.m. the site of the downtown Azusa Station (795 N. Dalton Avenue).

Information on the event and the news release from the Construction Authority are after the jump!

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FOOTHILL GOLD LINE RELEASES NEW VIDEO

“BUILDING THE LIGHT RAIL TRACK SYSTEM”

The step-by-step overview of the light rail track installation process is released in time for this week’s milestone celebration of the light rail track completion for the Foothill Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa

 MONROVIA, CA – The Foothill Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa today released a new and informative video, “Building the Light Rail Track: A Step-by-Step Overview,” on its website and YouTube channels. This new video provides a five-step overview of the process involved in installing the light rail track system for the 11.5-mile Foothill Gold Line light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa.  The video release kicks off a week of celebration, as the first Measure R-funded rail project to break ground four years ago now hits a major milestone with all 28-miles of light rail track needed for the project in place.

“On Saturday, October 18th, we will be celebrating with our community the completion of all light rail track installation for the project,” stated Foothill Gold Line CEO Habib F. Balian.  “This is an important milestone for the project, which allows us to begin testing the system later this year and continues our progress on time and on budget for a turn over to Metro in September 2015.”

More than 300 project stakeholders, community members, and elected officials are expected to participate at the Track Completion Ceremony the morning of October 18, 2014. During the Track Completion Ceremony, the final rail clip will be driven into place, marking the permanent connection between the cities of Pasadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale and Azusa, via this new light rail line.

“Our communities are eager to finally see the train arrive,” added Balian. “Although they understand that we are still a year away from construction completion, they are ready to celebrate this milestone in the life of this nearly $1 billion project and what it means to the future of their cities and our region.”

The new “Building the Light Rail Track: A Step-by-Step Overview” video is available via the following link:

To learn about the Track Completion Ceremony, visit: www.foothillgoldline.org

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About the Foothill Gold Line – The Foothill Gold Line is a nearly $2 billion, 12-station extension of the Metro Gold Line light rail system, being overseen by the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, an independent transportation planning and construction agency created in 1998 by the California State Legislature. The project is planned in two segments – Pasadena to Azusa and Azusa to Montclair. The Pasadena to Azusa segment is fully funded by Los Angeles County’s Measure R and is on budget and on schedule to be completed in September 2015 when it will be turned over to Metro for testing and pre-revenue service. Metro will determine when passenger service begins on the line. The Azusa to Montclair segment is currently undergoing advanced conceptual engineering, which will be shovel ready in 2017. The Construction Authority is currently seeking $1 billion needed to construct the Azusa to Montclair segment.

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10 replies ›

  1. […] Click here for a nice video showing the work needed to install the tracks for the Gold Line Foothill Extension, which will take the Gold Line from eastern Pasadena for 11.5 miles to the Azusa/Glendora border. The Measure R funded project will include six new stations serving Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale, downtown Azusa and Citrus College and the surrounding neighborhoods. […]

  2. With all that modern equipment it takes far to long to construct these light rail lines. At the rate the MTA is taking to build these lines the Pacific Electric would have never reached the hundreds of miles it once had reaching into Santa Ana to the south and San Bernardino and Redlands to the east. And it’s not about safety, it’s about great planning and efficient building methods. Using one crew working in one direction only is not only stupid but a sign of very poor planning. In addition, what is this hang up about inter-connecting the light rail lines so as to create additional lines and alternate routes?

    And if the all the rail is layed and per the video all the electrical is in place why isn’t the MTA able to take ownership of the extension for another year?

    • We can always depend on negativity from the above commenter. I found the video well-done and very informative.

      • It was a nice video but still re-enforces my question, why does it take the MTA so long to build a line. Again I will point out Henry Huntington built the Long Beach line between Downtown L. A. to Long Beach in six months without all that high tech machinery shown in the video. But of course he didn’t start at one end and build to the other end. Instead he used multiple crews working throughout the line.