LA Gold Line Extension still needs crucial agreements

The Metro Gold Line Extension is on track for a June 26 groundbreaking. But there's still some major business to be worked out to make sure the project, funded with $810 million in voter-approved dollars, is not derailed, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports.

While money has been
secured and approved to design and build the extension from Pasadena to Azusa,
two significant agreements still need to be hashed out for the first phase of
the extension. Among them is making a deal with the BNSF.

For years the freight
line – once known as Burlington Northern Santa Fe – has run along stretches
that parallel the line where Metro wants to run its light extension rail
trains. Metro wants use rights to BNSF’s portion of rail, a 4.7-miles stretch
from Santa Anita Avenue to Irwindale, and shared-use rights for a 3.5-mile
stretch east of Irwindale.

"It’s critical to
our deal," said Habib Balian, CEO of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension
Construction Authority. "Yeah, we’re very concerned. It’s an obligation
that this has to get accomplished."

BNSF officials say they
are willing to work with Metro, but they want assurance that it’s not at the expense
of their shipping points along the railroad.

"We have been
cooperating with Metro … our main objective is that we are still able to
service our customers who are along the line," said Lena Kent, a
spokeswoman for BNSF.

Balian said he was not
aware of any reason why BNSF wouldn’t cooperate with Metro’s requirements for
BNSF to discontinue its operations between Arcadia and Irwindale. That is
especially so since the railway has no business west of the MillerCoors Brewing
Co. in Irwindale, Balian added.

As it stands, Metro is
scheduled to break ground June 26 on the initial phase of the extension: A
bridge that will take Gold Line passengers from the middle of the east and
westbound 210 freeway over the eastbound lanes and into Arcadia. At that point,
a stretch of rail, crossing stations, bridges and signals – called the alignment
– would begin and go to Azusa.

"But we’re not going
to start the alignment work until the BNSF agreement is executed," Balian
said.

The alignment’s design
and construction is scheduled to last from the middle of 2011 until September
of 2014. That’s when the project’s really big dollars kick in. Those dollars
come from Measure R, the half-cent sales tax that voters approved in 2008 to
fund county transit projects.

Under its funding
scenario, the big dollars in the project – including $500 million for the
alignment – won’t be unlocked until there’s a deal with BNSF and another deal
to clear out a large-enough-site to store and maintain Metro trains.

That has Balian watching
the timeline, and the negotiations, closely.

"We don’t want to see
them drag on," he said.