Denver Regional Transportation District‘s 23-mile East Corridor commuter rail line, part of Denver’s ambitious FasTracks program, will connect Denver International Airport with Denver Union Station in Downtown Denver. Utility relocations and other preliminary engineering work is currently underway, with hard construction scheduled to begin late 2011/early 2012. The line will begin revenue service in January 2016.
On the East Corridor project’s web page is a neat GoogleEarth flyover of the line, which I thought I would embed here for DenverUrbanism readers. Expand into full-screen mode and sit back and enjoy the 6:36 journey from Union Station to DIA:
East Corridor Animation with Station Data from Two Hundred on Vimeo.
At the end of the video are links to similar flyovers for the Gold Line and the electrified segment of the Northwest corridor. For a refresher on the conceptual plans for the terminal station at Denver International Airport, go here.
Is this “light rail” or more like typical “train rail”?
Commuter rail is heavier than light rail… more like an Amtrak train.
That’s an awful lot of single-track for such a long line. Any idea at this point what the headways are planned to be? Do they have a plan for double-tracking in the future?
I believe it’s 15 minute headways during peak and 30 minutes during off-peak.
I wonder why the line doesn’t cross over I-70 on the west side of Pena blvd and follow that to the airport – rather than running parallel on the east side and then needing to cross over with the “signature bridge” which will never be approved.
Great animation! Thanks for posting it here!
35 minutes from DUS to DIA? They used to say 29. Mayor Hancock mentioned 28 minutes in his DUS speech two weeks ago. Anyone knows why the travel time is getting longer?
It is also sad to see the future train traveling through so many blighted areas (and I mean blighted, not “Aurora city council blighted”). It often puts me in bad mood when I travel through the Evans-10th&Osage stretch. The West Corridor seems to be better integrated into existing neighborhoods.
Agreed, that’s a ho hum ride for the gateway trip into Denver. Not that I-70 is great, or that there are many other options with the airport location and the desired speed to downtown. At least with a rental car you’re looking at the mountains straight ahead. In a train car you’re looking at the land of tilt up double T slab warehouses out the side window. None of that is a revelation about that route (or most city’s airport routes), but seeing the aerial doesn’t get me any more revved up about it. Never thought I’d say it but I’d almost rather be on a bus.
Anyone know what will happen to the SkyRides after FasTracks is completed? I imagine AF will be discontinued, but what about the rest? Will AB be replaced by the Northwest Rail (or US 36 BRT) and a connection to the East line? How about I-225? Thanks.
Great video! Does anyone know the status of the Calatrava iconic bridge? Would it be something that could qualify for “public art” money? It looks far more artistic than any of the other airport “art installations”to me . Also, it had been reported that the airport itself was behind schedule with the new hotel etc; any updates would be appreciated.
Sadly, the Calatrava Bridge was cancelled due to expense
Last I heard was a Denver Post article several months back indicating that there would be no Calatrava bridge, and that it would instead be a more basic, economical design.
Personally, I’d rather pony up a spot more tax money to get the Calatrava bridge, but a lot of people may disagree.