Hey everyone! I have an interesting idea for a Rapid Transit/Freight style route add-on. The city of Denver, Colorado has a decent metro connection and recently opened a line from Denver Union Station to Denver International Airport: It's called the University of Colorado "A" Line. Background The route is 23.5 mi (37.82km) and services Denver, the very populous city of Aurora, and then finally the airport. Heading eastbound out of Union Station, you leave the city passing a number of sights including Coors Field, the home stadium of Major league baseball team the Colorado Rockies. You then run along and follow one of Colorado's busiest highways I-70. Finally, you cross over busy Pena boulevard and eventually enter the DIA terminal. Going west bound, you leave the airport to the beautiful sight of the Rocky mountain range and the Denver skyline. The route is operated by RTD and also serves the Denver metro area with metro-like light rail service. The A line is a very busy line with over 7 million riders since it opened in 2016. Locomotive The locomotive is a Hyundai Rotem Silverliner V. Max speeds are 110 mph (180 kmh) but the max speed the train will operate on the A line is 79 mph (127 kmh). It's an EMU, with the classic American silver liver with RTD logo and three stripes. They usually come in 2-car and 4-car consists. I think this would be a really fun route, Colorado has a lot of cool scenery and new architecture, especially in downtown Denver. There's also a huge freight depot in Denver, with Union Pacific and BNSF operating out of there so you could easily have a freight route there too.
Alright, gonna be honest here. Out of all the RTD Lines in Colorado. And you only just picked the one line that just only goes straight to the airport. Plus, I know there won't be much freight activity outside of Denver either (or BNSF for TSW). So to my thought is, why just this line?
Right, sorry about that. I know RTD has a vast rail network in Denver. Just thought seeing that one line you proposed sounded like it wouldn't be enough for a few people, eh. Especially for freight (If some of the sidings are not implemented like OSD). Still, would be nice to see the Union Station and the North Yard on TSW. Of course, I would go for the Joint Line down south from Denver (as far as Littleton or further) with RTDs C and D Line alongside. But that's just me.
No problem! I think the D or H line would be good choices too. I think my rationale with the A line is it could be a little less to render than going through downtown southbound. Munich to Augsburg is already having a tough time in Munich so I could imagine the same thing happening if a route went directly through downtown.
