Experience with the Construction and Commissioning of Linac4

In the framework of the LHC Injector Upgrade program, CERN is presently commissioning Linac4, a 160MeV H⁻ ion linac, which will replace the present 50 MeV proton linac (Linac2) as injector to the PS Booster during the next LHC long shut-down. The installation of the machine has proceeded in parallel with a staged beam commissioning at the energies of 3, 12, 50, 100 MeV and finally 160 MeV, foreseen for fall 2016. A seven month long reliability run will take place during 2017 to access potential weak points and find mitigations. The lessons learnt during its construction, the main outcomes of the beam commissioning and the remaining steps toward its connection to the PS Booster are presented in this paper.