Denver's B Line Opens, Gold Line Still Testing In August

Denver's RTD is phasing in the changes as FasTracks projects continue to roll in relatively on time for their completion dates. As announced, the A line to DIA opened in April. In July, the B Line--known during construction as the Northwest line--is in full operation in time for students and worker bees to travel from Broomfield to Denver Union Station 6.2 miles and 11 minutes away. Denverites and visitors can now ride the rails from Westminster and Broomfield to Santa Fe and Mineral (with a single change to light rail), and they are not done yet!

First, Boulder and Longmont will eventually be stops of the same B line, ergo B is for Boulder, not just Broomfield. There is a slight problem with funding. Barring a new effort, the extension will not be built until 2030 or even later. Yeesh.

Next, the Gold line is in testing mode with a planned opening this fall. Contributing photographer John Hill submitted a photo taken by Georgia Buechler on August 4th showing a test train stopped on the Union Pacific flyover that carries the commuter rail over the Moffat Route and California Zephyr.

The lines are quietly queuing and coming along nicely:

Commuter Rail

• A line - completed, renamed
• B line - see above
• G line - see above
• North line work beginning, to complete in 2018

Light Rail

• C/D line extension - not started
• E/F line extension - not started
• L line - central's north end extension, not started
• R line - construction winding down, testing to begin
• W line - completed 2013

And all of it by: Electricity, eeee-lec-tri-ci-ty...⚒

Commuter Rail Officially Operational In Denver

All photos: RTD

It's opening weekend for RTD's first-ever commuter rail line. Like the first light rail line, it's a milestone for the state's largest metropolitan transportation agencies (and by far the richest). The Denver metro area's Regional Transportation District covers all or part of 8 counties, an eighth of the 64 counties in Colorado. According to RTDs site,

The University of Colorado A Line is 23 miles of rail that is making local and international travel easier than ever. The new line, which opened on April 22, 2016, provides easy, affordable and reliable connections between downtown Denver, Denver International Airport, and the many communities along I-70. With connections at Union Station to the C, E and W light rail lines, the G and B commuter rail lines later this year and local and regional buses, your public transportation options now have an international connection.

The international connection is Denver International Airport. In other words, it is now possible for someone in downtown to board a train at Denver Union Station and 37 minutes later, find themselves entering the protected grounds of the Federal TSA, en route to San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, or even places as foreign and unfamiliar (to LoDo loft owners at least) as Colorado Springs or Grand Junction.



RTD has other rail lines, so why is this one different? Well, not a lot of cities opt for commuter rail. When proposed under the FasTracks plan, instead of a single standard of rail, like all light rail or retrofitting the existing light rail to do all commuter rail, RTD proposed the northern half of the metro area to be served by BRT (bus rapid transit) and commuter rail. This actually makes sense when you consider the effort and the market. Commuter rail's strengths and light rail's comparative weaknesses seem to open up the market to the Hyundai Rotem's Silverliner V cars.

For example, if you board a car, any car, you do so from an elevated platform, rolling luggage and all, and you are (at least in theory) able to move to the least crowded part of the train, even in motion. Another example: if you find yourself worried about making it through security and onto your flight in time, watch the motorman speed it up to 79 and don't sweat the double nickle limit light rail is limited to, a speed benefit of 24 MPH. Commuter rail, for all it's "back east" appearance, really does have its benefits in place for riders.



So, why is the new line called "University of Colorado A Line" by RTD? According again to RTDs site,

RTD is working to establish a long term corporate partnership program to expand revenue opportunities to support a variety of services and programs. The University of Colorado A Line is the first partnership agreement of its kind for RTD and we are excited to implement our first partnership agreement on the line to the airport.

In other words, without approval from its constituency, RTD decided to sell the naming rights, akin to city officials feeling entitled to auction the public's interest in naming the stadiums and other buildings built for their use. Never mind that it would be better for clarity for RTD to name the B Line as such because Boulder is home to the main campus.

Opinion

I had an amount of commentary of dubious quality that honestly doesn't need to be aired on this, the A Line's first day of revenue service, and the culmination of a $2.2 Billion project. Instead, I will sum it all up with 3 words:

It's. About. Time!

Welcome to the big leagues, Denver. Make rail work for you like it always has and you'll be in good shape.⚒

POTD: A Classic Reborn and Lit With Elegance

Denver's Union Station was almost slated for a date with the wrecking ball in the early 1980s. Then, someone responded to the call and formed a group called Save Our Station. And thank God they did! After millions of passengers, Union Station was due for an overhaul and RTD needed some way to tie FasTracks into one neat bow. Look no further than the Beaux Arts classic great room of Denver Union Station.

After millions of passengers, Union Station was due for an overhaul and RTD needed some way to tie FasTracks into one neat bow. Look no further than the Beaux Arts classic Denver Union Station.
Photo of the Day: Christopher May 

Looking for all the world like a cross between a wedding cake and a grand library, the inside of Denver Union Station is something to behold. Christopher May captured the newly restored, antique elegance that rivals any rail hub of any city anywhere. The great hall has never looked better! The timed exposure almost leaves the impression that the area is deserted. Always open, even late on a summer night for this photograph, Union Station may never close again.

A great place for ColoRail to have a party! They are, after all, the ones who inherited Save Our Station.◊

Colorado Railfan: First Look at Union Station

Longtime web photographer and near-permanent fixture on CR, Kevin Morgan of ColoradoRailfan.com visited Union Station and the Moffat Tunnel with his apprentice railfan photographers on Sunday. They explored the outcome of the Union Station Project, a project that broke ground 4 years ago and officially wrapped up just last month.

The new waiting room fuses much of its past elegance with modern touches. The chandeliers are a big improvement over the unbelievably ugly Carter-era fluorescents.
Photo: Kevin Morgan, ColoradoRailfan.com 

The DUSPA project's main effort was to enhance the station with the goal of tying all of the FasTracks projects to one central transportation nexus. Once FasTracks wraps up, it should allow a person to ride from any Light Rail or commuter rail (like from DIA) to any other point on RTD's rail or express bus service using the station as a hub. The connections are made between the train platforms, the light rail platform further out from the station and the underground bus terminal.

Union Station survives intact (more or less) with 6 train platforms, light rail and bus terminal, ready to connect another century of passengers, near and far.
Photo: Kevin Morgan, ColoradoRailfan.com

Now that the remodel of Denver Union Station is complete, one could wonder at the possibilities of intercity transit along the Front Range and possibly the I-70 corridor. Doing so could level out some of Denver's pricey real estate and extend the effective range of any working family within 20 miles of I-25 while reducing the impact on traveler and environment. Surely, Union Station is now up to the challenge.

Be sure to check out the rest of Kevin's photos from the day, including a primarily-EMD powered manifest at Plain harkening back to the days of the Rio Grande!◊