RTD public transit riders are facing disruptions mounted upon disruptions, with delays of up to 45 minutes added to already-tortoiselike light rail travel, after safety inspectors found problems on tracks that forced trains to crawl through newly designated “slow-down zones.”
Riding RTD trains from downtown Denver through the southeast corridor along Interstate 25 can take two hours.
Metro Denver residents relying on buses this week must navigate multiple station closures downtown due to construction. Elevators at RTD’s Nine Mile Station and 38th/Blake Station were declared “inoperable due to mechanical issues,” forcing train and bus riders who require elevators to seek temporary shuttles. Portions of RTD’s A Line rail route between Union Station and Denver International Airport were undergoing inspections too, RTD officials said, requiring buses between downtown and Central Park. On Monday morning, a key cross-metro bus run was canceled because no driver was available.
These latest disruptions are on top of summer delays that kicked in last month to accommodate a maintenance catch-up blitz downtown and, separately, along the I-25 corridor tracks linking downtown with the Denver Tech Center and south suburbs. Even when vehicle traffic is congested, drivers typically can move between the DTC and downtown in under 45 minutes.
RTD communication officials weren’t available to discuss the disruptions directly and didn’t fully answer emailed questions. The agency issued statements Monday afternoon, saying officials ordered “speed restrictions,” establishing the slowdown zones along the E, H and R lines, “depending on the severity of what was found.” RTD officials did not specify what inspectors found. The “additional delays” of up to 45 minutes will continue indefinitely.
“The southeast light rail corridor remains safe for RTD to continue running trains. If at any time the track was not safe for operations light rail services would immediately cease,” the statement said.
Denver resident Chris Fawver, 42, who has been struggling to adjust to the May service cuts that reduced train frequency along southeastern routes to one train per hour, arrived at his destination unexpectedly late.
“Entirely unfair,” said Fawver, who doesn’t own a car. While delayed on Monday, he used RTD’s app and called customer service to reach agents who assured him trains would arrive within minutes. They didn’t. He had to keep waiting.
His commute from just south of downtown (10th/Osage Station), starting at 7:05 a.m., normally requires 40 minutes to reach the south suburban Lincoln Station. On Monday, Fawver timed it at just over two hours.
The train he caught crawled at 7 to 10 miles per hour, he estimated, most slowly “on the elevated tracks,” he said.
“It just seems like RTD is doing everything at the same time and it is a huge inconvenience for anybody trying to commute. This could easily affect somebody’s employment situation. It is understandable that there would be delays due to the work they are doing. But to bring it down to one train per hour, and then throw 45 minutes on top of that? They need to spread it out, or at least be more transparent with the public.”
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Leaders of the Greater Denver Transit grassroots advocacy group contend poor service could trigger a downward spiral in ridership.
“When transit routes that are already slower than driving take double or triple the time to complete. ….. riders with any other options will choose those options and many are not coming back to RTD,” GDT co-founder James Flattum said. “The longer this period of unreliable service lasts, the more riders will choose not to return to RTD.”
On Tuesday afternoon, RTD publicists issued an announcement saying that, instead of riding on RTD trains, metro Denver residents who paid for RTD transit could ride on Colorado Department of Transportation Bustang buses from Union Station downtown to the Bustang Sky Ridge Station.
RTD’s recent online “service alerts” showed multiple disruptions, including the following:
— The 15L bus that runs along Colfax Avenue between the Decatur/Federal Station and Aurora on Monday morning was canceled “due to no operator available”
— Elevators in RTD’s Nine Mile Station and in the 38th/Blake Station were broken, forcing the use of shuttle buses, with no estimated restoration of service
— Downtown bus stop closures included those at Market Street and 14th and 16th streets
— Light rail trains on the E line were delayed up to 45 minutes with speeds as slow as 10 mph “due to track inspections,” a service alert said. Trains once ran at a 15-minute frequency along this route
“There’s a significant amount of RTD’s infrastructure that is not in a state of good repair,” said Chris Nicholson , a candidate seeking a seat on the RTD board of directors. “More than was previously recognized,” he said. “We can’t keep letting people down.”
Rival RTD board candidate Bob Dinegar noted the disruptions but added that he’s optimistic that “our future will be bright once the short-term pain we experience during RTD’s much-needed downtown track maintenance transforms into the pleasure of experiencing the excitement of a newly revitalized 16th Street Mall.”
RTD’s statements said “preventive” inspections are done four times a year on all 120 miles of track and that inspectors in the southeast metro area began their work in May. They examined light rail track, crushed rock around it, clips holding rails in place, and overhead wiring.
Agency officials didn’t reveal how many slowdown zones have been established or where. However, tracks between the Colorado and Southmoor stations and other southeastern stretches “will experience additional delays due to the track inspections” and train speeds will be “slower through the affected areas,” the statement said.
“Resumption of normal speeds is dependent on how quickly repairs are made. The timeline for making the isolated repairs will depend on the severity of the issue discovered and the availability of maintenance crews.”
In March, RTD officials unveiled plans for suspending downtown L Line trains running to and from Five Points during a $152 million maintenance blitz — part of a “corrective action plan” presented to Colorado Public Utilities Commission safety regulators after inspectors discovered corrosion of downtown tracks. Riders and drivers downtown will face shifting blockages at five dug-up intersections — 17th and California, 15th and California, 17th and Stout, 15th and Stout, and Broadway and Welton. RTD officials rerouted the D and H Line trains away from their usual stops to Denver’s Union Station. A separate maintenance project to repair walls along the E Line has forced the reduction of train frequencies from once every 15 minutes to one train per hour.
RTD ridership has decreased to around 65 million boardings in 2023, down from 105.8 million in 2019. Colorado leaders have said better bus and rail service is crucial to meet the state’s climate, environmental, and affordable housing goals.
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