Blowing snow and near-zero temperatures ganged up on RTD’s southeast rail line Thursday morning, icing up a mainline switch at the key Interstate 25/Interstate 225 junction that caused trains to back up and left some commuters waiting on cold platforms.
“We’ve had a rough couple days,” said Lloyd Mack, chief of rail operations for the Regional Transportation District. “We apologize to our passengers. This is not what we intended to do.”
Wednesday evening, a train lost power on the southeast line and had to be pushed by another to the Dry Creek station, said RTD spokesman Scott Reed.
The automatic switch that froze Thursday morning guides southbound trains either down I-25 to the Lincoln station or along I-225 to the Nine Mile station.
The build-up of ice impeded automatic operation of the switch and forced train operators to climb down and manually throw it, according to RTD.
That caused a backup of southbound trains.
“It just cascaded,” Mack said.
Trains were held at stations north of the Southmoor stop while workers dealt with the frozen switch.
At Nine Mile, the problem was compounded when another switch iced up as an arriving train tried to cross over to the platform’s departure track in a maneuver aimed at making up time lost because of the initial freeze-up, Mack said.
The switches have heaters, but in light of Thursday’s incidents, Mack said, RTD will increase the heating capacity of six mainline switches near the I-25/I-225 junction and one new switch where tracks cross West Colfax Avenue.
Even though RTD has had experience running light-rail cars in snowstorms for at least 10 years, the new switches at I-25/I-225 and Colfax are much larger than other switches on RTD’s rail system, Mack said.
The agency accepted manufacturer recommendations for heating the new switches, he added, but RTD now understands that it must bulk up the heating capacity.
Mack said his maintenance crew had some parts in stock for the upgrade and other parts will be acquired by the end of next week to complete the project.
RTD also will add heaters to switches at end-of-line stations such as Nine Mile and Lincoln where trains can make crossovers between arrival and departure tracks in case of emergency.
Until the upgrade is finished, RTD will position maintenance workers near the main switches so they can be manipulated manually if automatic switching fails.
Mack said workers will be out in the next snowstorm “to see that the heater upgrade did what we needed it to do.”
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
