RTD will run four-car light-rail trains to better handle the huge crowd heading to and leaving the U2 concert at Invesco Field tonight, but Denver’s public works department and the transit agency still need to do more testing before the longer trains can operate downtown at rush hour on a routine basis, officials say.
Last weekend, public works altered the timing of about 235 traffic signals in Denver’s central business district so their full cycle from green to yellow to red and back to green lasts 90 seconds instead of the previous 75 seconds, said Daelene Mix, spokeswoman for the department.
Increased signal cycle times are needed to help the longer trains operate efficiently downtown and avoid blocking key intersections, officials say.
For the limited use of four-car trains today on routes C and E serving Union Station, with interim stops at Invesco Field, the Regional Transportation District is closing the Auraria West train station from 3 a.m. today to 2 a.m. Sunday because it can’t accommodate four-car trains.
RTD has upgraded stations throughout its system to handle four-car trains, but the agency did not upgrade the Auraria West platform because that station will be moved to a new, location this summer when the West Corridor light-rail line is tied in with the existing Central Platte Valley rail line.
RTD said it will begin running the four-car trains on the C and E routes for the concert about 3 p.m. today and will rely on them to more efficiently handle the throng departing Invesco after the concert.
RTD’s light-rail cars seat 64, and when they are jam-packed with standees at the height of rush hour or after a major event, cars can haul as many as 160 people in what is called “crush load.”
Mix said public works officials hope to work with RTD in running tests of four-car trains on the downtown street grid in mid-June in advance of the transit agency using the longer trains on scheduled service.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
