Whatever Ray Wolfe said to the mayors of the San Gabriel Valley about alternatives to extending a train system into San Bernardino County, it wouldn’t change anything.

That was the gist of a preamble Cynthia Sternquist, Temple City mayor and president of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, delivered to her board Thursday, Oct. 24, before Wolfe even took the podium.

“The COG is steadfast in its commitment to extending the Gold Line east to Pomona, then to Claremont and Montclair. Nothing has changed as far as what we would like to see going forward,” Sternquist announced.

RELATED: Learn more about the proposed Gold Line extension to San Bernardino County

While that may have taken the wind out of Wolfe’s sails, it didn’t deter him from making his case in a 35-minute presentation to the COG board at its new meeting venue in West Covina.

Wolfe, the executive director of the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority, spoke quietly, without emotion, about using smaller Diesel Mulitiple Unit (DMU) trains on the existing Metrolink San Bernardino Line to connect Pomona with Claremont and Montclair, and possibly extending this innovative service east to Rancho Cucamonga.

Calling it “enhancing the Metrolink system,” Wolfe rarely mentioned the other system, the extensive light-rail Gold Line that moves more than 50,000 passengers a day from East L.A. to Union Station, through Highland Park, Pasadena, Arcadia, Duarte and Azusa.

He lauded the SGVCOG for giving $126 million in discretionary transportation monies to the Gold Line Construction Authority to plug a funding gap. That kickstarted construction last month of a 9-mile extension from Citrus College to Pomona, with operations expected to begin in 2025.

Still, Wolfe said he could implement innovative big-rail service in San Bernardino County for only $55 million. That is one-tenth the outstanding cost of about $550 million to get the Gold Line to Claremont and Montclair.

“The conversation about enhancing Metrolink service that brings enhanced service frequencies to communities in our county is an important conversation to have,” Wolfe concluded.

The mini-service on the large-scale rail used by freight trains and Metrolink passenger trains would only pick up passengers every 30 minutes, he said. Gold Line trains come every six minutes during peak times, however, and about every 12-15 minutes on off-peak hours.

“There are definite concerns,” Sternquiest said in an interview Wednesday. “It (DMUs service) would be more lengthy for riders: 30 minutes compared to about six or eight minutes so that is huge in transportation.”

Wolfe has hinted that the SBCTA, which would be responsible for the less-than-1-mile extension of the Gold Line from Claremont to Montclair, could not afford to run such quick service.

During a brief question-and-answer time Thursday, Wolfe fielded other concerns raised by SGVCOG board members:

• Monterey Park Councilman Peter Chan asked: If the Gold Line doesn’t get to Montclair, it won’t get to Ontario International Airport, a long-term goal of the SGVCOG as well as numerous state legislators. Wolfe said his agency is still trying to grapple with that connection. But he said the cost would be $2 billion, whether via Gold Line or an extension of Metrolink.

• Duarte Councilman John Fasana, a long-time member of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, said the L.A. County agency owns the right-of-way where the Metrolink tracks exist and prohibits any projects that interfere. Also, they are paying for the bulk of the $2.1-billion Gold Line project to Pomona using Measure M, a transportation sales tax passed by voters. Running a second service on the Metrolink tracks could slow progress on the actual construction of the Gold Line extension, he said.

“These plans from San Bernardino County would make it more complicated. That would be another thing to deal with, which would be a cost,” he said in an interview Friday.

• Claremont Councilman Ed Reece asked Wolfe about his statements regarding funds already received – about $80 million – for bringing the Gold Line to Montclair.

“I want to ask about your intent to take funds and no longer use those dollars for the Gold Line. That shifting could make an impact on the desires of this body to get the Gold Line to Montclair,” Reece said Thursday.

Wolfe answered: “We laid out the potential to move money to various projects.” He added, “In the future, we may look at redirecting funds.” But the SBCTA board has not acted on that, he said.

Sternquist said she received numerous questions about her decision to allow Wolfe to talk to San Gabriel Valley mayors about an alternative to the Gold Line extension to Montclair, something the SGVCOG has committed to, helped pay for and continues to advocate for strongly.

“Why not? Information is not a bad thing,” she said.