Now that funding for an extension of the Gold Line to Pomona is secure, the spotlight shifts to getting the light-rail train to Montclair.

One would think that the last 3.2 miles of the longest light-rail line in the region would be easy, but that’s not so.

This leg will cost more than half a billion dollars, about $1 million per mile more than the Azusa-to-Pomona leg — and less than one-fifth of the money is secured.

Plans to extend the Gold Line light-rail from Pomona through Claremont and to Montclair will cost $550 million. The big rail track like ones here at the Claremont Station will need to be moved for the 12.3-mile light-rail extension from Glendora to Montclair, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer)

Plans to extend the Gold Line light-rail from Pomona through Claremont and to Montclair will cost $550 million. The big rail track like ones here at the Claremont Station will need to be moved for the 12.3-mile light-rail extension from Glendora to Montclair, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer)

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Plans to extend the Gold Line light-rail from Pomona through Claremont and to Montclair will cost $550 million. The big rail track like ones here at the Claremont Station will need to be moved for the 12.3-mile light-rail extension from Glendora to Montclair, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer)

Plans to extend the Gold Line light-rail from Pomona through Claremont and to Montclair will cost $550 million. The big rail track like ones here at the Claremont Station will need to be moved for the 12.3-mile light-rail extension from Glendora to Montclair, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer)

Plans to extend the Gold Line light-rail from Pomona through Claremont and to Montclair will cost $550 million. The big rail track like ones here at the Claremont Station will need to be moved for the 12.3-mile light-rail extension from Glendora to Montclair, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer)



Plans to extend the Gold Line light-rail from Pomona through Claremont and to Montclair will cost $550 million. The big rail track like ones here at the Claremont Station will need to be moved for the 12.3-mile light-rail extension from Glendora to Montclair, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer)

Plans to extend the Gold Line light-rail from Pomona through Claremont and to Montclair will cost $550 million. The big rail track like ones here at the Claremont Station will need to be moved for the 12.3-mile light-rail extension from Glendora to Montclair, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. A new idea of using DMU trains on Metrolink was being discussed at the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer)

Plans to extend the Gold Line light-rail from Pomona through Claremont and to Montclair will cost $550 million. The big rail track like ones here at the Claremont Station will need to be moved for the 12.3-mile light-rail extension from Glendora to Montclair, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer)

Plans to extend the Gold Line light-rail from Pomona through Claremont and to Montclair will cost $550 million. The big rail track like ones here at the Claremont Station will need to be moved for the 12.3-mile light-rail extension from Glendora to Montclair, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. (Photo by John Valenzuela, Contributing Photographer)

The approved extension to Pomona, as well as the one to Claremont and to the Los Angeles-San Bernardino county line and on to Montclair, has been slammed by skyrocketing costs.

On top of higher costs, comes political opposition from the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority. SBCTA is not convinced a light-rail extension to Montclair is cost effective.

When the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority awarded the extension contract on Aug. 14, Ray Wolfe, executive director of the SBCTA, said increased cost estimates were a big concern.

“It’s unfortunate that the cost to extend the service 3 ½ miles in the Metrolink Corridor from Pomona to Montclair is now nearly a half-billion dollars,” Wolfe wrote in an emailed response. “SBCTA plans to have a more in-depth conversation with the Board of Directors to ensure that this investment remains the best use of public dollars when more cost efficient alternatives exists.”

SBCTA and certain mayors from San Bernardino County cities are considering a different way to get commuters out of their cars and off crowded freeways. In particular, the SBCTA has proposed using the same type of low-emission diesel trains that will run on the same tracks as larger Metrolink trains from San Bernardino to the University of Redlands.

Unlike the Gold Line, running the diesel trains would not require the construction of new track. But some experts say it may require new train bridges.

“We are not focused on a singular platform,” said Otis Greer, director of legislative and public affairs for SBCTA, during an interview Tuesday, Aug. 27. “We are focused on what is a high frequency transit system.” He said the low-emission diesel trains should be looked at.

While the SBCTA is leaving the door open for something other than a Gold Line light-rail, the Metro Gold Line Construction Authority is pushing to build to Montclair, creating a tug-of-war between the two counties.

The Gold Line Construction Authority has required its contractor to keep open the option of building to Claremont and Montclair after the Pomona segment is complete in 2025 — if the agency secures funding.

Follow the money

Of the $550 million it will cost to extend Gold Line from Pomona to Montclair, the bulk — around $450 million — is needed to build the line to Claremont. That money has yet to be secured.

From there, getting the line to Montclair costs only $100 million, according to Habib Balian, CEO of the Gold Line Construction Authority.

Engineering and construction in Claremont, he said, must include:

• Demolishing the existing Metrolink station and moving it across the street, with a Gold Line station built in its place;

• Laying temporary tracks for both Metrolink and freight rail, which will be removed when permanent tracks are laid;

• Erecting four train bridges over Monte Vista Avenue, Garey Avenue, Towne Avenue and Indian Hill Boulevard. Each will cost about $30 million, Balian said.

“It is very expensive to go from Pomona to Claremont,” he said. “The cost per mile is very high.”

While building to Claremont is a huge hurdle, money is not as much of an issue getting from there to Montclair, Balian said.

The SBCTA has secured $41 million from a state grant it received in partnership with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said Greer. Also, it has earmarked $39 million from Measure I, a countywide half-cent sales tax, to bring the total to $80 million, he said.

The cost to build to Montclair will be about $95 million, he said, so the agency has a $15 million gap. “We are concerned about how we will fill that difference,” he said.

Costs rising

On top of the transit options and cost overruns, a hot economy is impacting construction bids.

Original bids to extend the Gold Line 12.3 miles from Glendora to Montclair were $570 million over budget. The overrun originally shortened the project to La Verne, but after getting $126 million from the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, the construction authority was able to award a contract for the line to Pomona.

The rising cost for labor and materials drove up the Gold Line project by 38%, bringing the full cost to extend the light-rail all the way to Montclair to just under $2.1 billion.

From September 2017 to September 2018, material prices nationwide rose dramatically, including a 29.3% increase in diesel fuel and 22% for steel, according to Kenneth Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America.

Tighter immigration policies “make it difficult to attract and retain foreign-born workers,” adding to the shortage of qualified train-builders, Simonson reported. A shortage resulted in higher labor costs, he concluded. Also, the ongoing trade war with China that includes tariffs drove up the cost of materials.

And because California is building numerous rail projects, bidders are selective and are charging more, economists say.

“In Northern California, we are seeing some bids come in on public projects that are higher than several public agencies thought they would be,” explained Matthew Hargrove, senior vice president of the California Business Properties Association, a trade group based in Sacramento. “You are seeing that across the board – from the bullet train to light-rail projects.”

LA Metro’s board has approved 160 projects costing $18 billion, said Rick Clarke, chief program management officer. That amounts to $2 billion a year being spent on rail and bus projects, but mostly rail, he said.

The “massive commercial construction and the demand for skilled workers is outstripping supply by a wide margin — which drives up costs and slows progress,” wrote LA Metro CEO Phil Washington in a recent article for The Eno Center for Transportation.

Prices on materials dropping

Simonson’s recently released 2019 report indicates material price increases have slowed. Tariffs on Canadian and Mexican steel have been lifted, but tariffs remain on steel from Korea and Japan, he said in an interview Wednesday, Aug. 28.

But labor shortages will continue to drive up bid prices, he said. “Wages and benefits (of bidding companies) have continued to go up, about 3% a year,” Simonson said.

The SBCTA is awaiting a full report on the Pomona-to-Montclair segment. With more information, Greer said, the agency will present the Gold Line and alternative options to its board for approval. He could not say when that would happen.