challenges that have of the G-line commuter train west of Denver is poised to get another look after state regulators Thursday granted the Regional Transportation District a critical rehearing on the matter.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission granted RTD a “rehearing, reargument or reconsideration” of its to deny safety certification to 11 crossings along the University of Colorado A-Line to the airport as well as 16 crossings along the future G-Line, which will connect Denver Union Station to Arvada and Wheat Ridge.
Any next steps will have to wait for a 10-day notice period that will start sometime next week, after which an administrative law judge will set a date for RTD to again make a case for the safety of its crossing gate technology.
“They have to convince us that what they are proposing is safe even though it’s a different standard than what you see anywhere else in the country,” Commissioner Wendy Moser said during the morning hearing.
The commission agreed to consolidate all the at-grade crossings on both the G-Line and A-Line into the rehearing. That came as a pleasant surprise to RTD, agency spokesman Nate Currey said Thursday, because evaluating all the crossings simultaneously could appreciably speed up the timetable to final approval.
RTD’s crossing gate technology, a novel wireless signaling system that is integrated into a federally mandated rail safety protocol known as positive train control, has been problematic for the agency ever since it .
Regulators have required that RTD while the technical challenges at the crossings are worked out. In the meantime, progress on the G-Line has been halted until the signaling issues on the A-Line can be proven safe.
RTD argues that in order for the technology to work properly, it needs more gate activation time — up to 20 seconds — than what current standards call for. That additional gate closure time prompted the commissioners in September to worry that motorists might get impatient and try to sneak past the gates into the path of an oncoming train.
But the at RTD’s proposal after the was no longer a safety concern from its perspective.
It was clear Thursday that the commissioners were aware that opening of the G-Line, which was originally scheduled for October 2016, that has prompted rebukes from city leaders in Arvada and Wheat Ridge who see the PUC as the sole impediment to rail service in their communities.
“I agree with RTD that this is a matter of some time urgency,” said Commissioner Frances Koncilja.
Last month, elected leaders in Arvada penned a strongly worded letter to the PUC seeking a faster approval process for the G-Line and an end to “this unacceptable and unnecessary bureaucratic stalemate,” especially given the FRA’s approval of RTD’s design.
“The PUC now stands alone in its disbelief in the system’s safety,” the letter from Arvada’s city council read. “The continued, open-ended delay in commencing passenger service on the G-Line has real-world consequences for our communities and citizens. Our patience is at an end.”
Wheat Ridge City Council also sent a letter to the PUC, in which council members called for a “speedy resolution” to the process.
“We never envisioned a state regulatory process that would drag on for 20 months — and counting…” the letter stated.
On the A-Line, neighbors have had to several times an hour for nearly two years. Those horns will continue to sound as long as the PUC hasn’t certified the safety of the crossings.
PUC Chair Jeffrey Ackermann on Thursday said the commission’s charge is ensuring public safety at railroad crossings and that it’s RTD’s burden to prove that it has achieved that.
“RTD, we have as much information as you bring to us,” he said.