Passenger Trains > Denver's RTD light rail is untenable

RTD switched inspection protocol after the state pressured them and found burn out zones, which caused slow downs to  below 15mph from 55 mph driving people away in droves.

Grinding the rail is curing it  but it is taking fore ever.

https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/14/rtd-light-rail-schedule-slow-zones-riders-driving-denver-transit-track-inspections/                        post links are prob sub only

last week a car fell off a bridge disrupting service to the Lincoln ave station in Douglass county, car dropped from a c470 ramp

https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/08/fatal-crash-rtd-light-rail-train-lone-tree-closure/

one more additional article on derailments

https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/07/rtd-derailments-trains-crashes-puc-investigations-transparency/



 

Rail grinding should be an annual protocol....

After having worked in rail grinding after leaving Metrolink I think that it is an oversimplfcation to state that grinding should be done annually.
What does need to be done regularly  (like annually) is to perform rail profile surveys using laser scanners and corrugtion surveys.  That will show the places that need grinding to correct rail wear patterns that adversly affect rail and wheel wear and corrugation formation.  Done right this can greatly extend the service life of wheels and rails.  From observing the rate of wear the agency/railroad can also quite accurately forecast when different segments of rail will have to be replaced.
In parallel with the surveys regular rail detector surveys need to be done too.
Sometimes the surveys indicate an acceptable rail profile but periodically grinding off a few thousands of an inch will reduce the rate of formation of detail fractures (broken rails).

IMHO from my days at NS. Locomotives actually pull better on fresh ground rail than smooth rail. The grooves left from grinding help the wheels bite the rail. While Denver isnt moving tonnage, Wheel slip happens just the same

dan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> RTD switched inspection protocol after the state
> pressured them and found burn out zones, which
> caused slow downs to  below 15mph from 55 mph
> driving people away in droves.
>
> Grinding the rail is curing it  but it is taking
> fore ever.
>
> https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/14/rtd-light-ra
> il-schedule-slow-zones-riders-driving-denver-trans
> it-track-inspections/                  
>      post links are prob sub only
>
> last week a car fell off a bridge disrupting
> service to the Lincoln ave station in Douglass
> county, car dropped from a c470 ramp
>
> https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/08/fatal-crash-
> rtd-light-rail-train-lone-tree-closure/
>
> one more additional article on derailments
>
> https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/07/rtd-derailme
> nts-trains-crashes-puc-investigations-transparency
> /
>
>
>
>  I have never lived in Denver, I've not been there for more than 20 years and I've never read the "Denver Post" on line, yet when I try to access the article from this post, I get a large announcement that says I've reached my limit of free articles and blocks my access!  And newspapers wonder why fewer than 13% of Amercans read a newspaper.  Like railroaders wth good hand gestures when drilling cars, I have a hand gesture for the Denver Post and all publications that want you to subscribe to read one small article.

a737flyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have never lived in Denver, I've not been
> there for more than 20 years and I've never read
> the "Denver Post" on line, yet when I try to
> access the article from this post, I get a large
> announcement that says I've reached my limit of
> free articles and blocks my access!

There's a chance you might have been reading articles from an affiliate of Denver Post, and the "cookies" on your browser is limiting access. Maybe you read some articles related to the 4014 or 844 in the past?

Algorithms (and "AI") are designed to help the supply-siders suck money out of consumers. They aren't designed to make your life better.

> And newspapers wonder why fewer than 13% of Amercans
> read a newspaper.

The tech industry threw the media organizations under the bus by convincing them how important "free access" was for "growth." I witnessed this more than two decades ago. Organizations that used to be able to afford their own helicoper/traffic airplane fleet made the techies' mouth drool. It was a money transfer scheme. Anyway, you didn't know all this, but now you do. You won't rant the same again. :-)

a737flyer Wrote:

> >  I have never lived in Denver, I've not been
> there for more than 20 years and I've never read
> the "Denver Post" on line, yet when I try to
> access the article from this post, I get a large
> announcement that says I've reached my limit of
> free articles and blocks my access!  And
> newspapers wonder why fewer than 13% of Amercans
> read a newspaper.  Like railroaders wth good hand
> gestures when drilling cars, I have a hand gesture
> for the Denver Post and all publications that want
> you to subscribe to read one small article.

Most free article limits are now zero or require registration to prevent easy circumvention. 

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> > And newspapers wonder why fewer than 13% of
> Amercans
> > read a newspaper.
>
> The tech industry threw the media organizations
> under the bus by convincing them how important
> "free access" was for "growth." I witnessed this
> more than two decades ago. Organizations that used
> to be able to afford their own helicoper/traffic
> airplane fleet made the techies' mouth drool. It
> was a money transfer scheme. Anyway, you didn't
> know all this, but now you do. You won't rant the
> same again. :-)

Newspapers had been losing reach since the 1960's even if revenues peaked in the 1990's. The medium is fundamentally unsuited for an environment where information isn't scarce. What "Tech" knew is that nobody was going to pay full price for occasional articles from cities they didn't live in. Might have been sustainable if news sites became social media and we all hung out on them all day, but they didn't. Also Craigslist nuked classified revenue. 
 

Many newspapers also lost government advertising for upcoming hearings, zoning changes, auctions of property. Lots of revenue there.

Like US mail and its impact on rural rail branch lines. It was often what kept the trains running.

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