Lack of train cars may delay the openings of the Expo Line Phase 2 from Culver City to Santa Monica and the Gold Line Foothill Extension from Pasadena to Azusa. Metro reports delivery of rail cars won't be complete until January 2017, while construction of the extensions should be done July/August (Expo) and late September (Gold Line), of 2015. The builder of the train cars is Kinkisharyo International, a Japanese company that is assembling the light rail trains in Palmdale, California. The Expo Line needs 42 cars and the Gold Line needs 15.
Metro Gold Line Bridge, which represents woven baskets, over the 210 Foothill Freeway near Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia, gets its fifth award. The latest one was "Best Project in Southern California" for highways and bridges from Engineering News-Record, a national trade journal on construction and design. The award was presented to Habib Balian, CEO of Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority. Sharing in the award was AECOM, the lead architectural firm that implemented the concept from artist Andrew Leicester and Skanska USA, the construction contractor.