Passenger Trains > Denver Depot Move Delayed

Amtrak will continue to use Union Station at Denver, CO, for a few more days. Extreme cold and snow has delayed track work needed to access the relocated Denver Depot operation. Several replies were given by folks and construction guys at Union Station. Best guess is track work will be done after California Zephyr train 6 on Thursday, February 3, 2011. First train into Denver Depot could be Friday, February 4th.

Update - The Amtrak move from Denver Union Station to the temporary station at 1800 21st St., has been postponed until Feb. 4, 2011. Predicted sub-zero temperatures and other severe weather conditions will delay the necessary track changes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/11 16:18 by cozephyr.

Is the new "temporary" structure an actual building that might have a heated interior, or just an Amtrak bus shelter? If its a bus stop, I wonder if the weather will cut into ridership.

lwilton Wrote:
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> Is the new "temporary" structure an actual
> building that might have a heated interior, or
> just an Amtrak bus shelter? If its a bus stop, I
> wonder if the weather will cut into ridership.

It's a real building, with heat and A/C, not just a shelter. Haven't been inside yet, since it's not open. But driving by on Wewatta Street behind Union Station (a favorite personal route for bypassing downtown Denver traffic), you can see inside through the windows, and it looks to be entirely pleasant.

It's a concrete block building, but it's been repainted nicely into blue and white Amtrak color scheme, and the interior is outfitted with rows of blue seats of the type that are common in airports. Looks like it will present a good image for Amtrak, and be reasonably comfortable. This is no "Amshack", like the old facility in St. Louis, now blessedly replaced by the new Gateway Station.

The most interesting feature is that the new platform (a well-built concrete structure with a proper, well-designed umbrella shed) is across Wewatta Street, on east side of the street (the station is building is on the west side of the street). There really wasn't any other way they could do it -- that's where the tracks and track space are located, and because of an adjacent residential building (nice condos, I believe), there would be no way they could put trackage on the west side of Wewatta, where the station building is located. How this will be handled at boarding / detraining time I do not know. It will be interesting in the early days as they work through procedures. There is a marked crosswalk, and a traffic signal. I wonder if the station agent will have a punch button to set the traffic signal to stop to allow luggage-laden passengers to cross over to the platform. That having been said, traffic on Wewatta is very light, and it probably will be closed as part of the construction project at some point in time (which will extend over its right of way further south near the Union Station building), perhaps quite soon.

The days ahead will be interesting ones for Amtrak in Denver. But the bottom line is that the temporary station appears to be an entirely serviceable and reasonably comfortable facility for use until the entire Union Station megaproject is completed, and Amtrak moves to its new and final home.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/11 08:02 by ironmtn.

ironmtn Wrote:
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> The days ahead will be interesting ones for Amtrak
> in Denver. But the bottom line is that the
> temporary station appears to be an entirely
> serviceable and reasonably comfortable facility
> for use until the entire Union Station megaproject
> is completed, and Amtrak moves to its new and
> final home.

With one track allocated, IIRC. The rest goes to commuter trains. In my opinion, the best way to save Western LDT's is reorganize the network with hubs in several places. The ideal place for one of those hub operations is Denver, but alas, the city will not have the terminal facilities to handle a new "City of Everywhere".

Under the projected scenario with the temporary station, will the CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR still back into the station? If it is necessary to add or cut out a car, will they be able to do it in the temp station?

Andy

set41249 Wrote:
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> Under the projected scenario with the temporary
> station, will the CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR still back
> into the station? If it is necessary to add or
> cut out a car, will they be able to do it in the
> temp station?
>
> Andy


Andy-

The Zephyr will indeed still back into the station. The temporary platform is very close to the old platform at the station. Take a look at the images I attached.

The first image shows the old tracks that have been (or will be) ripped out in RED. The temporary platform is in BLUE. Existing tracks that should be unaffected are in GREEN. The red arrow points to Union Station and the blue arrow points to the temporary depot (which used to be a light bulb supply house).

The second image is just zoomed in a bit on the temporary station (surrounded by the blue box on the left). The blue box on the right shows the intersection where passengers will cross Wewatta street. A new stoplight has been erected here for that purpose.


ts1457 Wrote:
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> With one track allocated, IIRC. The rest goes to
> commuter trains. In my opinion, the best way to
> save Western LDT's is reorganize the network with
> hubs in several places. The ideal place for one of
> those hub operations is Denver, but alas, the city
> will not have the terminal facilities to handle a
> new "City of Everywhere".

The current final plans call for two tracks at Union Station to be devoted to non-commuter trains (tracks four and five). Tracks one through three are supposed to be used for the line to DIA and Thornton. Tracks six through eight are supposed to be used for the line to Boulder and the Gold Line.

Kevin Morgan
Arvada, CO
ColoradoRailfan.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/11 13:43 by ColoradoRailfan.

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be suprised if the 4th is met very cold, poor workers

all tracks but the q lead have been cut, and are ready for the cutover.

glad to see the will be able to go the UP north still, but next years fronteir days train will be interesting, maybe use the TOFC ramp or load from coors field??

last night #6 grabbed the protect unit, after coming in behind UP#3878

amtrak has been moving to the station for a week or so, crossing light is done, passengers will have to use a crosswalk to get to the train, an employee shoveling it last night , both platforms are lite.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/11 04:59 by dan.

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