First Gold Line Rail Cars Arrive

Marking a major step forward, the builder of the railway connecting Pasadena to downtown Los Angeles has received its first shipment of light-rail cars.

The two cars, each about 100 feet long and costing about $2.3 million, arrived recently at a stretch of track near South Pasadena. They initially will be used to test track on the railway, expected to open in July.

“It’s a huge milestone for this project,” said Rick Thorpe, chief executive of the group building the Gold Line.

Thorpe said the South Pasadena segment will be finished and tested first, probably by November. The $725-million railway is expected to have 26 cars covering the 14-mile route in 30-minute trips.

Construction is proceeding rapidly. Concrete columns now rise nearly 25 feet over parts of Chinatown. Overhead power lines extend along the Pasadena Freeway, and stations from Mount Washington to Highland Park are almost finished.

Construction was delayed early this year when local activists asked the state to review their safety and environmental concerns. In May, the Public Utilities Commission, the state agency in charge of rail safety, rejected most of the activists’ complaints in a vote that allowed construction to continue.

Many of the activists are appealing that ruling. The PUC is expected to consider the appeals in a closed meeting set for Thursday in San Francisco.

The Gold Line will be run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and will connect to the MTA’s hub at Union Station, allowing riders to transfer to the subway, Metrolink or countywide buses and Amtrak.