First power test of Denver Airport RTD

[MattW]

Not for this line, but aren't some of the further lines to be electrified existing [freight] tracks?

 

[jis]

Not for this line, but aren't some of the further lines to be electrified existing [freight] tracks?

But there will be no freight haulage using electric engines, since none are being purchased.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

Not for this line, but aren't some of the further lines to be electrified existing [freight] tracks?

But there will be no freight haulage using electric engines, since none are being purchased.

No I am asking if freight trains will use the track, not if freight trains will utilize the catenary.

 

[jis]

Freight trains will not use the airport line. Some of the other lines use freight spurs and presumably freight will continue to run on the repurposed lines. The EMUs that RTD is getting for the HV electrified lines are all FRA Tier I compliant.

 

[PRR 60]

Yep. A 23 minute ride to downtown, running every 15 minutes! Now only if we could get NJTransit to run something like that from EWR!. Not going to happen until the new tunnels are built - so 2025 or later.

The proposed travel time from Denver International to Union Station is 35-37 minutes including five intermediate stops.

 

[afigg]

News on the Denver airport line from Progressive Railroading: Denver airport to get commuter-rail stop in April 2016. Excerpt:

The Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) will provide commuter-rail service from Denver Union Station to Denver International Airport starting April 22, 2016, the transit agency announced yesterday.

The agency made the announcement after receiving an official notice from Denver Transit Partners, the concessionaire in the public-private partnership that's building what will be called the University of Colorado A Line, according to an RTD press release.

The line is 23 miles of new electric commuter-rail service, which is part of the Eagle P3 project, the nation’s first public-private partnership for transit. The $2.2 billion project is being funded with local RTD taxes, a $1.03 billion federal grant and $450 million from Denver Transit Partners.

So it will be called "University of Colorado A-Line"? Rather lengthy. I expect it will be just the A-Line or the airport line in normal conversational use.

RTD FastTracks news release webpage on the announcement with photos.

How long it been since a new circa 23 mile electrified (catenary or 3rd rail) commuter/regional rail line has opened in the US? (excluding BART and WMATA as heavy rail transit).

 

[PRR 60]

...

How long it been since a new circa 23 mile electrified (catenary or 3rd rail) commuter/regional rail line has opened in the US? (excluding BART and WMATA as heavy rail transit).

That's a great question. There was new electrification of existing lines in NJ in the 1980's, and the 1985 SEPTA (Philadelphia) airport line included about six miles of new track and repurposed freight track. But the last time that 20+ miles of new electrified railroad in the US was put into service? Whew. That has to be a long, long time ago.

 

[afigg]

How long it been since a new circa 23 mile electrified (catenary or 3rd rail) commuter/regional rail line has opened in the US? (excluding BART and WMATA as heavy rail transit).

That's a great question. There was new electrification of existing lines in NJ in the 1980's, and the 1985 SEPTA (Philadelphia) airport line included about six miles of new track and repurposed freight track. But the last time that 20+ miles of new electrified railroad in the US was put into service? Whew. That has to be a long, long time ago.

The A-line to the airport is not the only commuter/regional line scheduled to open in 2016. According to the RTD Fastracks Eagle P3 project page, 36 miles total of new electrified commuter/regional rail will open next year with the Gold Line (now the G line) contributing 11.2 miles and the Northwest stub line the remainder. So, by the end of 2016, Denver will add 36 miles of all new electrified commuter/regional service. Even counting existing commuter rail lines (and not counting the NHV-BOS electrification because the catenary for that segment is still only used by Amtrak), got to go back a long way I would venture since 36 miles of electrified commuter route has been added in the US in any given year.

Then add the 11.5 miles of light rail I-225 R-line that is expected to open in 2016. Impressive amount of expansion in just one year.

 

[jis]

Why wouldn't you count the NHV - BOS. The excuse seems lame. After all the Colorado lines will not be used by anyone else either. The primary purpose of the Boston electrification was all along Amtrak service no one else participated in it. It is only of late that Connecticut is proposing to use it.

 

[Anderson]

And (barring a major schedule slip) it sounds like this will be in operation by the time NARP has its Denver meeting out there next fall...

...which means that everyone will likely take the train to get there (even if they had to do that f-word to get to Denver in the first place)

 

[neroden]

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2015/04/17/another-look-at-rtds-dia-commuter-railcars.html

Service is schedule to start in 2016. Allegedly it might happen ahead of schedule.

A quote from the story, "The line uses 25,000-volt AC power from overhead lines, different than RTD's 750-volt DC light rail system."This sounds a little overdone for an airport shuttle.

It means that they can (a) use off-the-shelf railway electrification equipment,(b) have only two substations for the whole line, and

© run at 79 mph (possibly higher, actually -- they planned this before the PTC mandate, they might be able to raise speed limits)

How far do they plan to extend this line and with what kind of equipment?

As noted by others, this is one of two lines (actually, three lines, but the third is a stub of a longer planned line) which will open in 2016 with 25kV AC overhead. There's also a light-rail extension opening in 2016.There's another line with 25kV AC overhead under construction which will open in 2018.

I believe there's going to be one substation in the vicinity of Union Station and one at the outer end of the Airport line, and there *might* be one at the far end of one or two of the other lines. This is a much smaller number of substations than would be needed for 600V DC.

 

[PRR 60]

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2015/04/17/another-look-at-rtds-dia-commuter-railcars.html

Service is schedule to start in 2016. Allegedly it might happen ahead of schedule.

A quote from the story, "The line uses 25,000-volt AC power from overhead lines, different than RTD's 750-volt DC light rail system."This sounds a little overdone for an airport shuttle.

It means that they can (a) use off-the-shelf railway electrification equipment,(b) have only two substations for the whole line, and

© run at 79 mph (possibly higher, actually -- they planned this before the PTC mandate, they might be able to raise speed limits)

How far do they plan to extend this line and with what kind of equipment?

As noted by others, this is one of two lines (actually, three lines, but the third is a stub of a longer planned line) which will open in 2016 with 25kV AC overhead. There's also a light-rail extension opening in 2016.There's another line with 25kV AC overhead under construction which will open in 2018.

I believe there's going to be one substation in the vicinity of Union Station and one at the outer end of the Airport line, and there *might* be one at the far end of one or two of the other lines. This is a much smaller number of substations than would be needed for 600V DC.

There are three substations specifically for the A-Line - one in the Stapleton area and two along the Pena Boulevard portion of the line. A fourth substation is located north of Union Station to provide power to the Union Station area and the common line to the maintenance facility.

 

[alan_s]

Excellent! I'm flying in next July and leaving by AMTRAK after a day or two. I hope it's in service by then.

Does anyone have tips for economical hotels within a reasonable distance? The one in the new terminal is far too expensive for this budget traveller.

If this line is operating by then possibly an airport hotel may be best.

 

[jis]

The line will start operating in the second half of April according to recent reports.

Yeah the Tower Road hotels can be quite inexpensive, many below $100. But they are in the middle of nowhere. Getting anywhere from there without a car means taking a shuttle to the airport and then taking the bus or train from there to wherever.

 

[PRR 60]

The other cluster of hotels near the interchange of Peña Boulevard and I-70 may be more practical. Those have also free shuttles to and from the airport, and when the rail line is open, will be about a one mile walk from the airport line's 40th Avenue/Airport Blvd - Gateway Park station.

 

[jis]

The other cluster of hotels near the interchange of Peña Boulevard and I-70 may be more practical. Those have also free shuttles to and from the airport, and when the rail line is open, will be about a one mile walk from the airport line's 40th Avenue/Airport Blvd - Gateway Park station.

Hopefully those hotels' shuttles will do a drop off/pick up at the 40th Avenue/Airport blvd station.

 

[Agent]

This train came though Agency, Iowa on Friday heading to Denver. I'm out of my element when it comes to commuter railroads, so does each car count as an EMU, or are these two EMUs? The cars numbers were RTD (if that's the reporting mark they use) 4054, 4053, 4056, and 4055.

 

[jis]

I believe they are married pairs, that is each pair constitutes an EMU unit.

 

[Agent]

If this is still relevant, I saw a westbound BNSF train at Agency, Iowa taking two more EMUs to Denver on Friday. The car numbers were RTD(X?) 4064, 4063, 4062, and 4061.

 

[RSG]

And the 'A' in "A-Line" stood for 'aggravation' on Tuesday as the new light rail line had its first major glitch: a power loss with a train stranded on a bridge.

From KUSA-TV/9NEWS [video, 3:56]:

81 passengers evacuated from commuter trainhttp://www.9news.com/weather/81-passengers-evacuated-from-commuter-train/214163248

 

[Bob Dylan]

And the 'A' in "A-Line" stood for 'aggravation' on Tuesday as the new light rail line had its first major glitch: a power loss with a train stranded on a bridge.

From KUSA-TV/9NEWS [video, 3:56]:

81 passengers evacuated from commuter train

http://www.9news.com/weather/81-passengers-evacuated-from-commuter-train/214163248

This is pretty common when "New" technology is first placed in service."Bugs" have to be worked out of all new systems.
The Trams @ DFW ( Airport) were notorious for stopping underground and going dark when the Airport first opened and of course Kansas,er Denver International had the infamous "Eat your Luggage System. "

 

[fairviewroad]

And the 'A' in "A-Line" stood for 'aggravation' on Tuesday as the new light rail line had its first major glitch: a power loss with a train stranded on a bridge.

From KUSA-TV/9NEWS [video, 3:56]:

81 passengers evacuated from commuter train

http://www.9news.com/weather/81-passengers-evacuated-from-commuter-train/214163248

This is pretty common when "New" technology is first placed in service."Bugs" have to be worked out of all new systems.

I assume you intentionally put the word "new" in quotes. Electric trains have been around for 100+ years.

I can't remember ever reading about people having to be evacuated from a new expressway shortly after it opened due to "bugs" in the road.

 

[jis]

There is a difference between a passive system like an expressway and an active system like a running train. There are plenty of bugs that need to be worked out from time to time in the active cars and buses using said expressway.

 

[fairviewroad]

There are plenty of bugs that need to be worked out from time to time in the active cars and buses using said expressway.

Generally not within a month after they're first put into service, though.

 

[jis]

There are plenty of bugs that need to be worked out from time to time in the active cars and buses using said expressway.

Generally not within a month after they're first put into service, though.

OK we can split hair about it, but finding one example or even a few examples is not the same as finding a general situation. Typically mass produced road vehicles undergo much more through testing when compared to custom built small batch order heavy rail stuff when first deployed. Need we bring up some exemplary cases like some old Ford products for the road? But it would be inappropriate to generalize from that.