Denver Union Station & FasTracks

[Rational Plan3]

Originally Posted by mfastx

I don't understand why everyone wants low floor trains. To me, high floor trains are better. More level boarding and a completely level train. Los Angeles and St. Louis both have all high-floor light rail cars. And those are two very good light rail systems IMO.

If your system has any street running, then low floor is better as the stations can be simply be upgraded sidewalks, that are slightly higher than the normal sidewalk. Visually it integrates much better into the street and is also cheaper to build.

[SnyderBock]

RTD did start charging out of district park & Ride users a fee. Also, anyone who remains larked at a Park & Ride for more than a 48 hour period, has to pay a fee, in anticipation of the opening of the East Corridor EMU line to Denver International Airport. They didn't want metro area rail station Park & Rides constantly filled with cars people left behind on their way to the airport. I see how that could quickly clog the system with parked cars for extended periods of time. They can still park them there, at a rate around $5 a day I think. But all in-district transit users who are not parked there for longer than 48 hours, still do not pay, it's still free.

As for Denver using low platforms for LRT with high wheelchair blocks. RTD preferred the high floor trains, because of the better layout and capacity. However, they didn't want to poor high platforms, because some on the RTD board wanted the option to switch to low-platform trains at some point in the future, to remain an option without reconstruction all platforms.

[SnyderBock]

Rick @ DenverInfill Blog has posted his Union Station Update #48. It was the first update since December 17th
and it may be 3+ weeks before the next major update. Please follow the links to enjoy his full commentary
and detailed construction/design explanations.

Light Rail Terminal & Bus Terminal (Center):

Courtesy: Rick @ DenverInfill Blog

Light Rail Terminal & Bus Terminal (Right):

Courtesy: Rick @ DenverInfill Blog

Light Rail Terminal (Left):

Courtesy: Rick @ DenverInfill Blog

View Blog Update in it's entirety here!

=====================================================================================================

January 8th, 2011:

Courtesy: RyanD


Courtesy: RyanD


Courtesy: RyanD

DaVita World Headquarters @ Union Station (Tower Crane Base Installed):

Courtesy: RyanD

[SnyderBock]

This is what, I believe to be, a conglomerate of all the latest, most up to date, FasTracks corridors cost and ridership estimates, as well as planned frequency of service.


Central Corridor Extension
Vehicle Type: Light Rail
Length (miles): 0.8 new
Stations: 2
Parking: 1,685 existing spaces; no new spaces (parking will be shared with East Corridor at 38th and Blake)
Capital Cost: $67.3M*
2030 Ridership: 5,800
Proposed Frequency of Service (Rail): 15 min (peak)/15 min (off-peak)


East Corridor (under construction)
Vehicle Type: Commuter Rail - Electric Multiple Unit (EMU)
Length (miles): 22.8
Stations: 6
Parking: 2,848 existing spaces; 681 new spaces; Total: 3,529 parking spaces (opening day)
Capital Cost: $1.34B*
2030 Ridership: 37,900
Proposed Frequency of Service (Rail): 15 min (peak)/15 min (off-peak)


Gold Line Corridor (under construction)
Vehicle Type: Commuter Rail - Electric Multiple Unit (EMU)
Length (miles): 11.2
Stations: 7
Parking: 711 existing spaces; 2,050 new spaces; Total: 2,250 parking spaces (opening day)
Capital Cost: $590.5M*
2030 Ridership: 20,100
Proposed Frequency of Service (Rail): 7.5 min (peak)/15 min (off-peak)


I-225 Corridor
Vehicle Type: Light Rail
Length (miles): 10.5
Stations: 8
Parking: 1,225 existing spaces; 1,800 new spaces; Total: 3,025 parking spaces (opening day)
Capital Cost: $694.9M*
2035 Ridership: 34,200
Proposed Frequency of Service (Rail): 7.5 min (peak)/10 min (off-peak)


North Metro Corridor
Vehicle Type: Commuter Rail - Diesel or Electric Multiple Unit (DMU/EMU)
Length (miles): 18.7
Stations: 8
Parking: 3,100 new parking spaces (opening day)
Capital Cost: $924.4M*
2035 Ridership: 24,100
Proposed Frequency of Service (Rail): 15 min (peak)/30 min (off-peak)


Northwest Rail Corridor (phase 1, under construction)
Vehicle Type: Commuter Rail - Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU)
Length (miles): 41
Stations: 7
Parking: 3,975 existing spaces; 4,393 new spaces; Total: 8,368 parking spaces (opening day; U.S. 36 Corridor and Northwest Rail share parking at two stations)
Capital Cost: $706.9M*
2035 Ridership: 17,400
Proposed Frequency of Service: 30 min (peak)/60 min (off-peak)


Southeast Corridor Extension (planned extension of existing line)
Vehicle Type: Light Rail
Length (miles): 2.3
Stations: 3
Parking: 6,962 existing spaces; 2,000 new spaces; Total: 8,962 parking spaces (opening day)
Capital Cost: $184.3M*
2035 Ridership: 14,800 (total ridership existing + extension: 56,800-64,000)
Proposed Frequency of Service (Rail): 6 min (peak)/7.5 min (off-peak)


Southwest Corridor Extension (planned extension of existing line)
Vehicle Type: Light Rail
Length (miles): 2.5
Stations: 1
Parking: 2,597 existing spaces; 1,440 new spaces (1,000 opening day and 440 future); Total: 4,037 parking spaces (opening day)
Capital Cost: $165.6M*
2035 Ridership: 5,700 (total ridership existing + extension: 23,900-26,100)
Proposed Frequency of Service (Rail): 7.5 min (peak)/10 min (off-peak)


US 36 BRT Corridor (phase 1, 2 under construction)
Vehicle Type: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
Length (miles): 18
Stations: 6
Parking: 3,826 existing spaces; 1,278 new spaces; Total: 5,104 parking spaces (opening day)
Capital Cost: $208.5M*
2030 Ridership: 14,600
Proposed Frequency of Service: 2 min (peak)/4 min (off-peak)


West Corridor (under construction)
Vehicle Type: Light Rail
Length (miles): 12.1
Stations: 12
Parking: 646 existing spaces; 5,005 new spaces; Total: 5,651 parking spaces (opening day)
Capital Cost: $709.8M*
2030 Ridership: 29,700
Proposed Frequency of Service (Rail):
5 min (peak)/15 min (off-peak) - Denver to Federal Center
15 min (peak and off-peak) - Federal Center to Jefferson County


* inflated costs

[Beta_Magellan]

The BRT Corridor’s frequency seems pretty high—are there going to be a number of overlapping bus routes feeding into the corridor from various origins?

[Cirrus]

You need a lot of buses to move a lot of people, since buses can't be as long as trains. That means running them more often.

But still, 4 minutes off peak is surprisingly fantastic. You don't need that frequency to move 14,600 people a day.

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by SnyderBock

As for Denver using low platforms for LRT with high wheelchair blocks. RTD preferred the high floor trains, because of the better layout and capacity. However, they didn't want to poor high platforms, because some on the RTD board wanted the option to switch to low-platform trains at some point in the future, to remain an option without reconstruction all platforms.

They could have done what Portland does - mixed train consists of 1 high floor + 1 low floor (for wheelchair access). We still have quite a few legacy high floor trains. I usually prefer them, as they have better seating layouts. However, the new Siemens S70 gives a REALLY comfy ride.



Flickr photo By Curtis Gregory Perry

[VivaLFuego]

Those commuter rail ridership estimates set off my BS-o-meter. They're gonna run a 23 mile commuter rail service at 15 minute headways all day, and serve nearly 40,000 riders with 3,500 parking spaces? Charging what kind of fares? How are people going to get to the stations?

How many residents and workers even live within 1/2 mile of the proposed route's stations? That projection sounds like a transit modal share of Asian proportions, which, I'm sorry, seems unlikely. Ok, a 2030 estimate.... based on, what, all new housing and office space for the next 20 years in the entire Denver area being built alongside rail transit routes, no exceptions?

[wong21fr]

^I assume you're referring to the East Corridor. That's expected to have such high ridership because it connects the CBD to the airport, DIA. So, you'll have people transferring from the other corridors to take the East Corridor to the airport. You'll also have visitors who's destination is the CBD to forgo other modes of transportation for the train.

[VivaLFuego]

So basically, DEN is figuring it'll have more air<->rail riders as SFO or ORD (about 10,000 per day, each direction).

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

So basically, DEN is figuring it'll have more air<->rail riders as SFO or ORD (about 10,000 per day, each direction).

Are Airport lines see between 5-12,000 daily....that seems to be common around the world. The Airport line is the lowest used.

[Cirrus]

It's not just the travelers, it's the airport workers. I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that more people work at DIA than SFO.

And of course, it's all the people at intermediate stations arriving by foot, bike, taxi and bus.

[SnyderBock]

The East Corridor EMU Commuter Rail line is under construction and is the nation's first Design-Build-Operate-Maintain PPP rail transportation project. Private companies involved in this PPP, have invested ~$450 million of their private money into building this rail line. Meaning they think the ridership projections and profit revenues are accurate. The Ridership estimates were calculated during the EIS process, using federally accepted and fairly conservative methods.

1. This line includes two major transfer stations. The Aurora LRT line on I-225, which will connect the entire SE LRT corridor, the Denver Tech Center (over 30 million sq.ft. office space, 2nd largest employment center outside Denver's CBD), the City of Aurora (over 310,000 residents), Fitzsimmons Biomedical complex (billions of dollars of investments built and being built here), and then a transfer station for this LRT end of line with this East Corridor EMU line where all the LRT riders can transfer to get to and from the airport and/or downtown Denver.
2. The East Corridor EMU line will serve the Stapleton Airport redevelopment, which is the nation's largest New Urbanist infill redevelopment. This neighborhood will have 30,000 residents, by 2030. That's a pretty good TOD. They will commute to and from downtown and to and from the airport and can also transfer to the LRT lines for additional destinations as described above and below.
3. There will be another major transfer station with the Central Corridor LRT line at 38th/38th Street station. This transfer station provides access to urban neighborhoods such as Five Points, Arapaho Square, the CBD, 16th Street mall, The Convention Center and 14th Street Hotel/Theater District, Auraria campus (CU-Denver, DU & metropolitan State share this downtown urban college campus and have a combine 40,000+ student enrollment and is growing), Mile High Stadium, the Pepsi Center and I-25/Broadway LRT hub station.
4. While called "Commuter Rail" this line will be Denver's version of a Metro Rail system running at-grade. With minimal stops, the line will be fast, with cruising speeds as high as 79mph in certain stretches. The all electrified line will use 3 to 4 car configurations of a custom modified variant of the new Silverliner V's.
5. The downtown end of line of the east Corridor EMU will be downtown Denvers', Denver Union Station (DUS), which is currently undergoing the $480 million redevelopment, which will transform it into a multi-model transit hub for all of Denver's currently, under construction and planned rail lines (LRT, EMU & DMU), Amtrak, BRT lines and regional bus routes which terminate downtown at DUS.

NOTE: Regarding Denver International Airport
-DIA is the Nation's 5th busiest airport and the World's 10th busiest airport
–DIA’s economic impact is valued at $22.3 billion annually
–Approximately 30,000 people are employed at DIA
–Includes all direct airport and aviation employment
–Over 90% of employees live in the seven-county metropolitan Denver region

Source: DIA Master Plan Process Report

Originally Posted by Beta_Magellan

The BRT Corridor’s frequency seems pretty high—are there going to be a number of overlapping bus routes feeding into the corridor from various origins?

The Denver-Boulder bus routes have some of the highest average riderships in the metro area. The plan with the BRT, is to operate single-section (non-articulated) buses more efficiently along this route by constructing the BRT infrastructure and rail-like stations -- some with park-n-rides and others at employment centers and of course CU-Boulder college campus, Boulder Transit Station (a future major TOD) and downtown Boulder. As Cirrus mentioned, highly used bus routes require high frequency service to handle the ridership. I'm not sure if 4min off-peak will be met, however. While I can see 2-4min peak service required on this heavily used transit route, I suspect 4min off-peak service would quickly be pushed back to 6-10min off-peak or so, in order to cut down operational costs. There is more than one route sharing this corridor though. So perhaps this will result in shorter headways, than one might expect.

[SnyderBock]

Rick, contributor @ Denverinfill.com/blog has posted his Union Station Updates #49 and #50.
You can view his blog post here!

Here is a summary of the new updates:

The first photo below is the view of the entire site, including the Light Rail Terminal and the first half of the underground Regional Bus Terminal. Once these two elements are completed later this summer, Light Rail will be diverted to the new terminal and the 16th Street Mall shuttle service will be extended to the new Light Rail Terminal to provide for easy transfers.

Then the old Light Rail platforms will be removed and construction will begin on the second half of the underground Regional Bus Terminal and the Commuter Rail Terminal & platforms (which will be between where the underground bus terminal current ends and where the historical Union Station building is located).



Here is the track switches just left of the new light rail platforms:


Here a shot of the rest of the track switches farther to the left, to where the tracks will end:


View of the Light Rail Terminal from the 18th Street pedestrian bridge:


View of one of the ramps, which will lead into the underground Regional Bus Terminal on the Light Rail end of the station (there will be another one of these ramps on the other end of the station):


Here are some of the sky lights to provide natural light down into the environmentally controlled underground pedestrian concourse which will provide access to all the 22 underground bus bays, while also providing a pedestrian connection protected from weather, between the Light Rail and Commuter Rail platforms (which are on opposite ends of the station from each other):

All of the above^ photos courtesy of Rick at Denverinfill.com/blog
And you may view all of Rick's photos at: DUS jobsitevisitor.com


Here are a couple shots of the West Corridor Light Rail line bridges currently under construction just southwest of Denver Union Station:

Light Rail bridge over freight tracks by Fritzdude


Light Rail bridge over South Platte River by Fritzdude

[s.p.hansen]

Thanks for the updates! I really enjoy seeing this project progress.

[Octavian]

Awesome webcam of this project here:

http://www.earthcam.com/client/kiewit/?cam=pano

[Godwindaniel]

Wow, awesome project. But still it is not frequent as buses. So people will prefer buses for travelling. We have wait for these mails.

[SnyderBock]

mails?
Rail lines frequency will be 7.5min to 15min peak (depending on line). Buses will be major part of this station too, not competing with rail. It is a multi-model transit hub. Is this what you are intending to say? Not sure many people will prefer buses over trains for traveling.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by SnyderBock

The Denver-Boulder bus routes have some of the highest average riderships in the metro area. The plan with the BRT, is to operate single-section (non-articulated) buses more efficiently along this route by constructing the BRT infrastructure and rail-like stations -- some with park-n-rides and others at employment centers and of course CU-Boulder college campus, Boulder Transit Station (a future major TOD) and downtown Boulder. As Cirrus mentioned, highly used bus routes require high frequency service to handle the ridership. I'm not sure if 4min off-peak will be met, however. While I can see 2-4min peak service required on this heavily used transit route, I suspect 4min off-peak service would quickly be pushed back to 6-10min off-peak or so, in order to cut down operational costs. There is more than one route sharing this corridor though. So perhaps this will result in shorter headways, than one might expect.

What's the projected vehicle requirement for this?

[BrennanW]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

What's the projected vehicle requirement for this?

I'm not sure of an exact number, but I'm sure they will have plenty of existing buses around to make the runs. Assuming they are to use the existing type of Express buses, there are a number already in high frequency (7.5min -15 min) service on the route. Some provide express service and others are local buses that stop at each park and ride along the way. Additionally, other express buses running from Downtown to the airport could be used for the new Boulder BRT service. However, these buses are not great for quick loading and unloading and are designed for on-board fare collection. Quick turns are essential for a good BRT system, however an inter-city service like this really doesn't exist anywhere else, so the more comfortable bus may be preferred.

Regardless, When I took the route last summer up to Boulder and back, on a Sunday when they were running a local-only 30 minute service, I still counted over 18 buses on I-35. Granted, some were running to the Airport and some were just queuing in the stations on either end, but still, that is a significant number.

If they were to purchase an all-new fleet of low-floor true BRT buses to provide 2-4 minute service on a weekday rush hour, I would put the number in the 40s.