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Denver Union Station building to close until 2014
At Denver Union Station right before Amtrak took over on May 1st 1971 You could take the UP City of Denver East to Chicago via the UP to Omaha and theCMStP&P. The UP had a train to Kansas City and a train westward over Sherman Hill. ATSF had a local to La Junta to connect with its main line trains to LA and Chicago and the D&RGW had only the CZ to Salt Lake City and California. The CB&Q (BN) had the CZ and Denver Zephyr to Chicago. The D&RGW Prospector, the Yampa Valley Mail and the Royal Gorge had previous run their last runs but the Rio Grande Ski Train ran to Winter Park weekends in the winter. The only mention of the CRI&P Rocky Mountain Rocket was the CRI&P logo on the wall above the ticket window along with D&RGW. The grand old lady was still a Union Station at that time.
although the denver union station renovation was badly needed,
it has made travel to and from the city on the california zephyr
much less convenient for the short term. over the last decade or so, the access passageways of “old” union station
had all been redone, and it was very quick and easy to arrive
denver, move through the station and out into town. likewise it
was simple to arrive and board 5 or 6, via taxi, trolley or the
way i usual did, on foot. i’m looking forward to the “new” union
station, but as much for a return to the “passenger friendliness”
of dus, which was lost when amtrak was forced to move to its temporary facility.
The temporary station is behind Coors (baseball) field -with limited parking and barely enuf space for passengers on busy
days. It is a good walk downtown.
Among other failures in keeping promises to the voters, there
will be limited pasenger space in the new concourse. There will be no direct path south to Colo Springs and NM,
There wil be too little track, none for special cars and no
interstate busses at this "transportation hub. The Ski Train
is long gone. Things will get interesting when Denver wakens to the need for new trains, esp. along the “front range” north and south.
Memphis Union Station should be as fortunate.
DenverPost.com is a good site to use whenever there is a controversy involving the transportation center project, and there have been controversies. There were two competing projects to renovate Union Station, and the chosen hotel project may become the worst one with regards to train travel. However, there was a greater financial benefit to the controlling rapid transit entity. My gut tells me that Amtrak may be shunted back out to another location if their arriving and/or departing passengers do not book enough rooms in the hotel.
Living in the area and seeing what the final plans will be for Amtrak when Denver Union Station is remodeled and RTD has finished, shows that it will be much less convenient for passengers to get on or off Amtrak. The railroad tracks will be much further to the west than they used to be, so people with luggage better have wheels on it, because the walk will be 1/4 mile or a little more from the building to the track.
So far as I know, there are no plans to use moving walkways such as one sees at many airports today to assist passengers walking to their jetways. So have on your hiking shoes when planning to board or deboard from Amtrak once DUS is re-opened and in use.
Finally don’t believe that Fastracks is going to accomplish what was promised when they told the voters it would be done by 2017 if the sales tax was raised (which it was). As it stands now, the money shortfall is such that perhaps it will be finished in 2040. I am not going to hold my breath waiting for it to complete the northern routes even by then. Northern areas of the RTD taxing district have paid lots of tax money to RTD, and there has not been one shovelful of dirt moved to start any of the northern routes. The powers that be in the northern metro area have talked about withholding any more taxes from RTD until RTD shows some sign of working to start the Fastracks program northward. That has not happened yet, but seems to be a real threat. Stay tuned.
Great Picture.
Let’s be very clear here. The DUS renovation is basically a real estate deal that will generate cash flow for the financially strapped RTD and keep LoDo (Lower Downtown)hopping. The commercial and hotel space design proposals were what got most of the attention during the bidding stage…the transportation aspects were almost incidental. No tears will be shed by the developers if ATK is moved somewhere else. Because of tenuous funding for ATK’s long hauls, we can’t be certain that the CZ will be around two years from now. As for a Front Range passenger rail service, I’d use it…but who’s gonna fund it ?
Incidentally, SBB has shown interest to CDOT regarding the Denver - Breck-Vail train. Again, whose going to pay for it ?
I live in Metro Denver, and I’ll be glad to see this project done. It’s been a huge mess down there since the day they started. As far as I know, this has not been reported in local media.
Bravo to Denver voters for approving the ballot measure that will find this.
Colorado needs to prepare itself for the growth of intercity rail. It sounds to me that the Denver Union Station project will limit intercity rail which is very shortsighted.
I was born and raised in Denver. That was my hangout in my high school years. Denver and Amtrak blew a one time opportunity in the mid-1970s when the old yards and markets NW of DUS/DUT were ripped out and replaced by the double-track freight main. They coulda, shouda installed a turn back loop west of Cherry Ck. into the DUS for through operation of Amtrak trains. Instead, Metro St College and a pro ball field (Pepsi?) now occupy the space and the ACZ spends +20’ being wyed. But I’m glad the DUS is still there.