After more than five years of construction, a 9.1-mile extension of the A Line from Azusa to Pomona is finished and was officially handed over to L.A. Metro on Friday.

The extension, which runs along the foothills of eastern Los Angeles County, will soon receive more safety testing, and dedicated personnel will be trained to run the trains and populate the stations. This will last through August, meaning the extension could open to passengers then or later in the summer, said L.A. Metro, which operates the A Line, formerly called the Gold Line, from Azusa to Long Beach.

The $1.5 billion light-rail project includes four newly completed stations, in Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne and Pomona.

Workers also built 19 bridges, four over city streets and the rest clearing waterways; 21 at-grade crossings; 10 miles of sound walls; and four new parking lots.

The construction crews from Kiewit-Parsons, a joint venture, overseen by the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority, faced some major obstacles, including the COVID-19 pandemic and unusual weather patterns.

“Not only did we have COVID to deal with, we had two record summers of extreme heat, and two record winters during that time. Both 2023 and 2024 were very wet years,” said Habib Balian, CEO of the construction authority, on Thursday. “And after dealing with COVID and those natural elements, we still finished on time.”

The A Line was already the longest light-rail line in the world, going from Azusa to Pasadena, Chinatown, downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach, about 51.7 miles.

Once the new section is operational, it will be 60.8 miles long, said Dave Sotero, a Metro spokesperson, on Friday.

A light-rail line in Belgium, at 42 miles long, is closest in length to the A Line, he said.

The extension to Pomona is expected to increase ridership by over 11,000 daily weekday boardings, Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, said at a previous meeting about the Pomona extension.

Sotero said Metro is once again examining ridership numbers and does not have a current estimate.

As of November, the A Line saw an average of about 70,425 weekday boardings, Sotero said.

That is up from an average of about 61,000 weekday boardings in November 2023, he added.

“It will extend what is the longest light rail line in the world, cementing Los Angeles as a world-class city with a great public transit system,” said Eli Lipmen, executive director of Move L.A., a nonprofit that promotes mass transit. “It provides alternatives to Angelenos stuck in traffic and a frequent, affordable, and reliable alternative to Metrolink which only has service at certain times of the day.”

But the extension will not be the last for the lengthy A Line.

A 3.2-mile leg will be built from Pomona to Claremont and Montclair.

Once completed in 2030, the A Line will grow to more than 61 miles and become the first Metro rail line to cross into San Bernardino County. The project has been touted by cities in both counties as providing an alternative mode of transportation for Inland Empire commuters who mostly drive on the crowded 210, 10 and 60 freeways.

Balian and others said the completed extension will do more than just provide additional service in the San Gabriel Valley, as well as to downtown L.A. and Long Beach.

The A Line’s reach into Pomona, though not quite into San Bernardino County yet, is close enough to the Inland Empire that Inland residents may use it before the Montclair terminus is ready.

The Pomona station is in close proximity to western San Bernardino County cities, including Montclair, which is only about 3 miles away, Ontario, Upland, Chino, Chino Hills and more.

Inland Empire residents can drive and park at that station, and ride the A Line to job and entertainment centers in Pasadena, Chinatown and L.A. — all stops on the A Line.

L.A. locations include sports and entertainment venues used heavily on weekends.

Montclair City Councilmember Bill Ruh, a member of the Metro Gold Line Phase II Joint Powers Authority, said that even before the A Line reaches his city, the terminus at the Pomona station puts it on the doorstep of San Bernardino County.

“It is positive for all of our residents,” Ruh said on Friday. “Now, many people from our area who use the Gold Line go to Citrus/Azusa Pacific University Station (to board west toward L.A.). Soon, we can drive over to Pomona and get the A Line train. It is one step closer.”

Adriana Rizzo, founder of Californians for Electric Rail and a Riverside resident, supports the extension of light-rail service into Pomona.

“The IE is missing connections to the San Gabriel Valley and this will do that,” she said.

By car, it takes her over one and a half hours to drive to Pasadena on the 210 Freeway, she said.

The Pomona station is also significant because it will be the first station — not counting downtown L.A.’s Union Station, which existed before the A Line was built — to have a Metrolink San Bernardino Line stop.

The Metrolink train goes from San Bernardino to Los Angeles on heavy rail, using locomotives with only limited stops in Covina and at Cal State L.A. and Union stations.

The synergy between the two would add more than 2,000 passengers a day to Metrolink, according to recent studies.

“It is very important to have these lines (Metrolink and L.A. Metro’s A Line) connect,” Balian said. “It gives people an option. They would have a way to get into Pasadena that they didn’t have before. And connecting to Long Beach I think is huge.”

Ruh said the A Line in Pomona, and eventually in Montclair, will give Inland Empire families who use public transit a less expensive way to get to Los Angeles, since Metro rail rides are $1.75, while Metrolink tickets are several times more.

Also, the light-rail stops at more locations, he said.

“If someone wants to go to the Rose Parade, they could do it via the Gold Line. Or the same if they want to go to downtown L.A. for entertainment and sporting activities,” Ruh said.

He said he takes the train, with a change to the B Line, to the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

Ruh believes the Pomona extension will help more people from Riverside and San Bernardino counties visit Olympic venues in L.A. County in 2028.

“The Olympics are in three years. It will allow people to enjoy the Olympic Games without having to deal with the hassles of using their car,” he said.

Some L.A. County residents plan to use the A Line to travel to eastern cities and across to San Bernardino County.

“I am going to use it to go east to Pomona. My parents live within walking distance of the Pomona station,” said Hank Fung, a civil engineer who lives in Covina.

He said he would get on at the Irwindale A Line station. He prefers taking mass transit whenever possible instead of driving to cut down on tailpipe emissions that cause smog and global warming, he said.

The added segment may put pressure on San Bernardino County’s Omnitrans bus system and West Covina-based Foothill Transit to add more bus service.

“It is the domino effect. Once they open service in Pomona Valley on the A Line, there will be demand to go farther east where there are warehouse jobs,” said Bart Reed, executive director of The Transit Coalition, an L.A.-based mass transit advocacy group and watchdog.

Reed noted that the opening of the recently completed extension will be the first line opening since that of the Regional Connector in downtown L.A., which opened in June 2023.

“This is pretty exciting. The first completion of a rail line in a while,” he said.