The view from the parking structure at Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena. Photos by Steve Hymon/Metro. Metro CEO Art Leahy at right talks to operations staff. The train ready to head east. How a train initially moves: a tow from a truck. A good view of the new tracks east of Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena. Photo: Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority. The truck and test car on the Gold Line bridge over the eastbound lanes of the 210 freeway in Arcadia. Photo by Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority. The transit plaza at Arcadia Station. In the station at Arcadia. Heading east toward downtown Arcadia. Photo by Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority. Passing next to Newcastle Park in Arcadia. Crossing First Street east of Arcadia Station. Crossing the bridge over Santa Anita Avenue in Arcadia during Gold Line clearance testing in early December. Photo by Steve Hymon/Metro. Passing through Monrovia Station. Clearance testing next to the old Santa Fe depot in Monrovia; the new Gold Line station is west of the old depot. Photo: Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority. East of Myrtle and headed toward the new light rail vehicle maintenance campus. At the intersection of Duarte Road and California Avenue in Monrovia. Photo: Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority. The clearance test car adjacent to the future light rail vehicle maintenance campus. Photo: Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority.

After four years of construction, the Gold Line Foothill Extension project will reach a key milestone this morning: for the first time ever, a light rail vehicle will make its way down the tracks as part of clearance testing.

What’s a clearance test? As the name implies, Metro will be towing the light rail vehicle along the new Foothill Extension tracks to ensure that there’s adequate space between the rail car and structures along the tracks — poles that support the wires, bridges, passenger platforms and anything else. It’s a required test for all new rail lines.

“It’s exciting and we’re one step closer to opening the project for the public,” said Metro CEO Art Leahy. “There’s a lot more work to be done but we’re getting closer.”

Leahy said that pre-revenue testing is expected to begin in 10 months and that the project will likely open in spring 2016. “People will look up and see the train and be excited today,” he said, adding “trains are great to watch but people always need to be careful around the tracks because trains are big, heavy and they take time to come to a stop.”

He also thanked the public for voting for Measure R, the half-cent sales tax increase that is paying for the Gold Line Foothill Extension project, as well as many other transit and highway projects across Los Angeles County — including four other rail lines currently under construction.

The Gold Line Foothill project is extending the Gold Line for 11.5 miles from the current terminus at Sierra Madre Villa Station in eastern Pasadena to the Azusa/Glendora border with six new stations along the way — downtown Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale, downtown Azusa and a final station that will serve Citrus College, Azusa Pacific University, the Rosedale residential development and surrounding neighborhoods. A maintenance yard for Gold Line trains is also being constructed in Monrovia.

The project is being built by the independent Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority. Once construction is done, the project will be handed over to Metro for testing and operator training.

As the clearance testing makes its way east later today, I’ll add more photos.

Video of the test train in San Gabriel Valley:

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt7sjdJ-N6Q]