The 6.6-mile, $1.5 billion extension of the Expo Line from Culver City to Santa Monica reached another milestone on Monday, when for the first time a train ran to the Palms station under its own power.

Said to the Santa Monica Lookout, "This month, the authority began some preliminary testing of trains as far west as Centinela Boulevard -- between Military Avenue and Centinela -- but the tests so far have involved trains being pulled by other trains and not running on their own power as [was] the case at Monday's test."

The line is expected to be operational by Spring of 2016.

There will be seven stations between Culver City and Santa Monica: Palms, Westwood/Rancho Park, Exposition/Sepulveda, Exposition/Bundy, 26th Street/Bergamot, 17th Street/Santa Monica College and Downtown Santa Monica.

You can read the whole Lookout article HERE and a CBSLA article on the topic HERE.

[And thanks to Dan O'Brien for the heads-up]